The Italian Air Force plans to fly researchers on one of Virgin Galactic’s flights to space

As soon as next year, Virgin Galactic plans to fly a group of Italian researchers to space where the crew will conduct science experiments in microgravity. The flight is part of a new deal announced today with the Italian Air Force. If it happens, it’ll mark the first time a government agency has flown crew on a commercial space flight to do research.

The researchers are set to fly on Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane, VSS Unity, which is designed to travel to the edge of space, giving passengers the experience of weightlessness for a few minutes. Instead of a conventional ground-based launch, the spaceplane is carried to a height of 45,000 feet by an aircraft and then released. A rocket motor on the back of the vehicle ignites, pushing it up to an altitude of around 55 miles — a height that many consider to be beyond the boundary to space.

VSS Unity will primarily carry customers who have bought tickets for $250,000. More than 600 people have reportedly put down deposits for these flights, and the company plans to fly its first commercial passengers sometime next year. So far, Virgin Galactic has flown VSS Unity to space only twice, carrying four test pilots and one test passenger.

While only a few humans have experienced weightlessness on VSS Unity, the vehicle has carried numerous research payloads to space from various organizations, arranged through NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program. However, none of the researchers who created those experiments actually flew with their research. With the Italian Air Force deal, humans will get to see their work in action; they’ll be able to leave their seats and tend to the experiments, one of which will study how the human body reacts during the shift from gravity to microgravity. Another payload may look at the chemistry of “green” fuel while in space.

Both the Italian Air Force and Virgin Galactic say they are working with the Italian National Research Center to design these research payloads. But before anyone can tend to research in space, Virgin Galactic has to start flying again. The company’s last test flight to space occurred in February out of Virgin’s facility at the Mojave Air and Space Port. Since then, the company has started its long-awaited move to its new launch facility in New Mexico, Spaceport America. It’s from there that Virgin Galactic plans to fly all of its missions moving forward. The company has yet to announce its next flight, but Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson told CNN he plans to be the first non-test passenger after two to three more test flights.