{"id":142196,"date":"2021-11-25T09:20:31","date_gmt":"2021-11-25T13:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=142196"},"modified":"2021-11-25T09:20:31","modified_gmt":"2021-11-25T13:20:31","slug":"antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Antiguan set to fly to space"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>

A health coach from the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda has won two tickets worth almost $1 million to be among Virgin Galactic\u2019s first space tourists, the company said Wednesday.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Keisha Schahaff, 44, said she wanted to take the flight into Earth\u2019s orbit with her 17-year-old daughter, a science student living in Britain who dreams of one day working for NASA.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson surprised Schahaff with the news at her home in Antigua and Barbuda in early November.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

\u201cI just thought I was doing a zoom interview,\u201d she told AFP.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\u201cWhen I saw Richard Branson walking in I just started screaming! I couldn\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI always was interested in space as a little girl,\u201d she added. \u201cThis is a great opportunity for me to feel alive and to just make the greatest adventure ever.\u201d<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Schahaff won the prize after entering a fundraiser lottery organized by Virgin Galactic on the Omaze platform, which raised $1.7 million.<\/p>\n

The money will be donated to the NGO Space for Humanity, which works for wider access to space.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

The amount she donated was not made public, but entry started with a minimum contribution of $10.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Schahaff, a health and energy coach who works in particular with women, decided to take a shot at the prize after seeing an advertisement on a Virgin Atlantic flight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just filled out the application, did what was required\u2026 not realizing that I would have actually gotten a response to it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very encouraged to inspire others to also live their dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

The drive attracted nearly 165,000 participants in eight weeks, Virgin Galactic said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u2018Equal access to space\u2019<\/h2>\n

Wednesday\u2019s announcement aimed to show that space tourism is opening up opportunities for a variety of people, despite prices remaining well beyond the reach of most.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to give people of all ages and backgrounds equal access to space, and in turn, the opportunity to lead and inspire others back on Earth, is what Virgin Galactic has been building towards for the past two decades,\u201d said Branson.<\/p>\n

The British septuagenarian flew in his company\u2019s test mission to space in July, beating by a matter of days Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos in their billionaire space race.<\/p>\n

Schahaff will be among the first of Virgin Galactic\u2019s space tourists, but her place in the line has yet to be determined, a company spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Virgin Galactic has already pre-sold some 700 space tickets: 600 between 2005 and 2014 for up to $250,000 apiece, and another 100 since August, when they were relisted for a price of $450,000.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Their aim is to sell 1,000 in total before the launch of commercial flights, the first of which is to take place in late 2022.<\/p>\n

The proposed trip offers only a few minutes in zero gravity. A giant carrier plane takes off from a traditional runway carrying the space vessel that looks like a large private jet and then releases it at altitude.<\/p>\n

The space plane then ignites its own rocket engine until it exceeds 50 miles (80 kilometers) in altitude \u2014 the limit of space, according to the US military \u2014 before gliding back to the runway.<\/p>\n

Amazon founder Bezos\u2019 company Blue Origin is also offering suborbital flights, but aboard a rocket that takes off from the more traditional vertical position.<\/p>\n

Blue Origin\u2019s third manned flight is scheduled for early December.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A health coach from the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda has won two tickets worth almost $1 million to be among Virgin Galactic\u2019s first space tourists, the company said Wednesday. Keisha Schahaff, 44, said she wanted to take the flight into Earth\u2019s orbit with her 17-year-old daughter, a science student living in Britain who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":142132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nAntiguan set to fly to space - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Antiguan set to fly to space\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A health coach from the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda has won two tickets worth almost $1 million to be among Virgin Galactic\u2019s first space tourists, the company said Wednesday. Keisha Schahaff, 44, said she wanted to take the flight into Earth\u2019s orbit with her 17-year-old daughter, a science student living in Britain who […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antigua News Room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-25T13:20:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/richard.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1125\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\"},\"headline\":\"Antiguan set to fly to space\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-25T13:20:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-25T13:20:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/\"},\"wordCount\":562,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1615\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/richard.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/\",\"name\":\"Antiguan set to fly to space - Antigua News Room\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1615\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/richard.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-25T13:20:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-25T13:20:31+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1615\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/richard.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1615\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/richard.jpeg\",\"width\":1683,\"height\":1125},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Antiguan set to fly to space\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\",\"name\":\"Antigua News Room\",\"description\":\"News As It Happens\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Antigua Newsroom\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg\",\"width\":1260,\"height\":1260,\"caption\":\"Antigua Newsroom\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/AntiguaNewsRoom\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/antiguanewsroom\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\",\"name\":\"Editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"caption\":\"Editor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/author\/editor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Antiguan set to fly to space - Antigua News Room","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Antiguan set to fly to space","og_description":"A health coach from the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda has won two tickets worth almost $1 million to be among Virgin Galactic\u2019s first space tourists, the company said Wednesday. Keisha Schahaff, 44, said she wanted to take the flight into Earth\u2019s orbit with her 17-year-old daughter, a science student living in Britain who […]","og_url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/","og_site_name":"Antigua News Room","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom","article_published_time":"2021-11-25T13:20:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1683,"height":1125,"url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/richard.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AntiguaNewsRoom","twitter_site":"@AntiguaNewsRoom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Editor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/"},"author":{"name":"Editor","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5"},"headline":"Antiguan set to fly to space","datePublished":"2021-11-25T13:20:31+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-25T13:20:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/"},"wordCount":562,"commentCount":3,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1615\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/richard.jpeg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/","name":"Antiguan set to fly to space - Antigua News Room","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1615\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/richard.jpeg","datePublished":"2021-11-25T13:20:31+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-25T13:20:31+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1615\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/richard.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1615\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/richard.jpeg","width":1683,"height":1125},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antiguan-set-to-fly-to-space\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Antiguan set to fly to space"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/","name":"Antigua News Room","description":"News As It Happens","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization","name":"Antigua Newsroom","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg","width":1260,"height":1260,"caption":"Antigua Newsroom"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom","https:\/\/x.com\/AntiguaNewsRoom","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/antiguanewsroom\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5","name":"Editor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","caption":"Editor"},"url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/author\/editor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/142132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}