Vurgin Galactic 01 mission had been successfully completed on June 29th. Onboard the spaceplane VSS Unity there were two graduates from the School of Aerospace Engineering: eng. Walter Villadei, colonel of the Italian Air Force and commander of the scientific mission Virtute 01 accomplished during the flight, and eng. Nicola Pecile, Virgin Galactic pilot on duty onboard Unity.

The spaceplane has been released at 5:29 pm (Italian time) from the mothership Eve, and thanks to an approximately 60 seconds boost from its hybrid rocket motor has attained an altitude of 85 km. After that, the spaceplane performed a smooth descent as a glider to finally land on a runway in the New Mexico desert at 5.43 pm.

Virgin Galactic 01 has been a n imprtant step in suborbital flights devoted to research, a great success for the Italian Air Force and for the National Research Council who had their representatives as the crew, and a source of pride for the School, having two of the former graduates listed as astronauts !