Virgin Galactic’s suborbital SpaceShipTwo made its first space flight in nearly two years on May 25. The company has scheduled a final test flight before commercial operations begin. Virgin Galactic’s main aircraft, VMS Eve, took off from the runway at Spaceport America in New Mexico at 11:16 p.m. Eastern time. The departure was more than an hour later than the company’s schedule the day before, but the company did not disclose the reason for the delay.

Virgin Galactic launched VSS Unity at 12:23 pm ET. The spaceplane appeared to have completed nominal combustion of the hybrid rocket engine before descending from the runway and landing back at America’s Spaceport about 15 minutes later. The company did not immediately disclose details such as the flight’s highest altitude.

The flight, dubbed Unity 25 by the company, was SpaceShipTwo’s first powered flight since July 2021, when six people boarded the plane, including company founder Richard Branson. Both Unity and Eve entered extended maintenance periods after this flight and resumed test flights earlier this year with Unity making a glide flight on April 26.

Unity 25 was directed by Mike Mazzucci and directed by CJ Sturcow. Four company employees flew on the vehicle as mission specialists to test flight experience prior to commercial flights: Jamila Gilbert, Christopher Huey, Luke Mace and Beth Moses. This flight was the first spaceflight for Gilbert, Huey, and Mace, and the third for Moses and Mazzucci. A former NASA astronaut, Sturkov flew four shuttle missions with Unity 25, his third suborbital flight.

The company did not organize the media for the launch at Spaceport America and did not provide a live broadcast of the mission, instead providing limited updates on social media. This was in stark contrast to the spacecraft’s previous suborbital flight in July 2021 with a live broadcast of the flight and a large media crowd and guests invited to the spaceport to witness the event.

It was also a different approach from another manned suborbital launch provider, Blue Origin. This company has released many uncrewed launches as well as all crewed New Shepard launches. This included New Shepard’s final launch in September 2022. The crew capsule successfully separated and landed safely by parachute, according to a company publication.

Virgin Galactic says Unity 25 will be the final test before commercial operation before the flight. The first commercial flight, called Galactic 01, is scheduled for the end of June, carrying three mission specialists on a special research flight for the Italian Air Force. In an earnings call on May 9, company management said that after Galactic 01, Unity plans to fly “at regular intervals” mostly with private astronauts.