With some sand from her homeland and photos of her family tucked safely in her pocket, Antiguan Keisha Schahaff, along with Anastasia Mayers, made history on Thursday as the Caribbean’s first mother-daughter duo in space.
“I’m still up there. I’m not here yet, I’m still up there,” Schahaff told journalists Thursday afternoon at a live media conference as she basked in the afterglow of the history-making spaceflight.
Schahaff, 46, and her 18-year-old daughter, together with Olympian Jon Goodwin, 80, were passengers on Virgin Galactic’s first civilian spaceflight, Galactic 02 VSS Unity, that launched from Spaceport America in New Mexico Thursday morning.
Summing up the experience as “amazing”, Schahaff said she would love to do it again.
“Looking at Earth was the most amazing, but knowing that you don’t have to come pick me up in the middle of the desert somewhere because the parachute landed wherever… but it was so comfortable. It was really the best ride ever,” she said.
Mayers, who became the youngest person in space following the flight, shared her mother’s views, adding that she was shocked by what she felt.
“You are so much more connected to everything than you would expect to be. You felt like a part of the team, a part of the ship, a part of the universe, a part of Earth. It was incredible,” Mayers said.
The mother and daughter won their seats on the flight in 2020 when Schahaff participated in a sweepstakes which raised $1.7 million in grants for the non-profit Space for Humanity.
Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson, who personally presented Schahaff with her prize back in 2020, watched the spaceflight from Antigua.
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Branson was joined by Schahaff’s mom and other relatives on Thursday at a huge watch party on the island nation.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne and other dignitaries were also on hand for the festivities.
Goodwin, among the first to sign up for the spaceflight, for which he paid US$250,000 in September 2005, said he has been waiting 18 years to take the trip to space.
“It exceeded my wildest dreams. The experience today it was just completely surreal,” Goodwin said.
The VSS Unity reached an altitude at release of 44,300 feet, an apogee (the point in the orbit at the greatest distance from the centre of Earth) of 55 miles and a top speed of Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound).
Schahaff, reflecting on what the flight meant to her country and the Caribbean, said she felt honoured.
“It’s such a beautiful feeling knowing that our nation is giving this great support. Thank you so much for that,” she said, adding that, as a people, “we have to go beyond our fears”.
She urged others to dream big.
“It is OK to dream big and it is OK to voice your dream… This is how we stretch ourselves and you’ve got to go beyond your limits and that’s how you get there. Don’t worry how to get there, the universe will figure that out for you,” she added.
Mayers, a second-year student at Aberdeen University, Scotland, said being the youngest person in space is “one of the most inspiring things that could ever happen”.
“I think that it really does just tell us that we can do anything that we set our minds to. Anything that we want, we can achieve, and I hope that it’s just motivation for other young people to dedicate their time and their efforts to get to reaching their goals,” she said.
Mayers said she took a ring her boyfriend gave her and some family photos with her on the flight, while Goodwin said he took a photo of his grandson Sebastian and rings that belonged to his wife Arlene with him.
Schahaff, apart from the sand and photos, also carried an Antigua and Barbuda flag and crystals with her.
She sent love to her daughter Tatiana, who could not join them for the flight.
CJ Sturckow, VSS Unity Commander, in a statement, described the flight as “a surreal and humbling experience”.
“The wonder and excitement of spaceflight never loses its magic. I had the honor of being joined in the cockpit by Kelly Latimer, one of the first female commercial spaceship pilots,” he added.
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