Virgin Galactic, Purdue to fly Purdue 1 — first all‑Purdue suborbital research crew slated for 2027

Virgin Galactic and Purdue University announced Purdue 1, an all‑Purdue crewed suborbital research mission slated for 2027. The flight will carry Purdue engineering professor Steven Collicott alongside graduate students and alumni to conduct live, human‑tended experiments and serve as a university "space classroom" aboard the commercial spaceplane.

Discovered 2025-09-23T08:04:22.163107-07:00 | 2025-09-23T08:04:22.163107-07:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

  • The mission gives a U.S. university direct, human‑tended access to suborbital microgravity for research and education, establishing a model for academic spaceflight and hands‑on experimentation; comparable commercial activity includes recent Blue Origin New Shepard missions.
  • Purdue 1 is an early commercial research sale that supports Virgin Galactic's service roadmap as the company prepares its Delta spaceplane and manages production timing; see Virgin Galactic's Delta spaceplane timeline and its recent service schedule update for manufacturing issues.

Reported By

Space Explored SpaceWatch Africa SpaceNews.com orbitaltoday.com SpaceWatch Global wthr.com
Sources Tracked
11
First Seen
2025-09-23T08:04:22.163107-07:00
Latest Update
2025-09-29T07:26:00.160284-07:00
Coverage
Space

Sources

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