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Jon Goodwin exclusive: From Olympic athlete to first Olympian in space, defying age and Parkinson’s disease

The 80-year-old adventurer has conquered numerous peaks in his life, from Annapurna to Kilimanjaro, but his latest adventure has taken him even higher up, into space. Olympics.com spoke to the Munich 1972 canoeist after touchdown to find out how he trained for the space mission and what impressed him the most.

(USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect)

Where do you go after competing at an Olympic Games? Jon Goodwin took off for space.

The 80-year-old, who represented Great Britian in canoe slalom at Munich 1972 , became the first Olympic competitor to fly to space when he boarded a commercial spaceflight by Virgin Galactic in August.

Goodwin was the fourth person to sign up once the opportunity to be part of the first commercial flights came up. Eighteen years later – and a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis mid-way – he made the trip in the hopes of inspiring more people to defy the odds.

“I don’t set out to do these things. It just seems to be in my nature,” Goodwin told Olympics.com. “To do something that very few other people have done… to have the opportunity was the appeal. I had a desire to go to space because it appealed to my adventurous nature.”

Olympics.com spoke to the octogenarian after he touched down to find out how he trained for the spaceflight, the extra challenges he faced since getting diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and why Earth looks more impressive from a spaceship porthole than in a photograph.

• British canoeist Jon Goodwin becomes first Olympic competitor to travel to space

Anastatia Mayers, Jon Goodwin and Keisha Schahaff went on an hour-long trip to space on 10 August.

Jon Goodwin: From Olympian to adventurer

Jon Goodwin’s life is a road map of the world’s greatest peaks: Kilimanjaro, the Himalayas, and most recently, space.

But it all started with Olympus.

Goodwin took part in the Munich 1972 Games where canoe slalom made its Olympic debut. While finishing without a medal was not the result he wanted, it proved to be the best motivator as he launched into other pursuits.

“Disappointment, it improves the breed. You want to do better so you carry on trying to prove that. Subconsciously, mind you,” Goodwin said.

“Obviously to compete in the Games was terrific, but it must have been 20 years afterwards before I thought to myself, ‘Yes, that was probably quite an achievement’.”

Jon Goodwin (right) was part of the British delegation at the 1972 Olympic Games.

After leaving the GB national team, Goodwin channelled his competitive energy into history-making canoe expeditions instead.

Over the following years he became the first person to canoe the Marshyangdi river between the peaks of Annapurna, won a six-day race in the Arctic Circle , went down the Ganges , and led a crew of nine in an outrigger race in Hawaii , to name just a few of his multiple adventures.

“I’d stopped competing for the country, but I took to doing the expeditions,” Goodwin said. “So I changed. I was still canoeing but doing different aspects of canoeing. The Arctic canoeing that we won, where we paddled 19 hours non-stop on the first day and managed to win every day of the six days, that record still stands today.”

Jon Goodwin competed in canoe slalom at Munich 1972 and went on to lead numerous adventure expeditions after retiring from Olympic sport.

Having completed the ultimate adventurer’s check list on Earth, Goodwin looked turned his gaze upwards to yet unchartered territory.

In September 2004 , he put his name on the list for Virgin Galactic’s first commercial spaceflight . The ticket cost him $250,000 USD and required an 18-year wait .

But, as Goodwin soon found out, time was not the biggest obstacle standing in his way.

Parkinson’s diagnosis: ‘There was no use moaning about it’

At 71, and 10 years into Virgin Galactic’s wait list, Goodwin was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

The progressive disorder targets the nervous system and has no known cure. Symptoms start with small tremors and progress to slowed movement, rigid muscles, and difficulties with speech and writing.

Since getting the diagnosis, Goodwin has seen his energy levels dip and some everyday tasks become more complicated.

“I've only got 20 per cent of dopamine ,” he said. “Dopamine supplies all the energy to the muscles, every part of the body is requiring dopamine, so it takes me time to get dressed, for example, and doing buttons up on your shirt, it's an impossible task.”

The British adventurer has come up with creative solutions to adapt to his new reality , such as spacing shirt buttons further apart and rolling up shirt cuffs.

He has also made a special effort to keep a positive mindset.

“I was 71 at the time. I’ve had a fantastic life and there was no use moaning about it, ‘Why me?’ I took the attitude of, when I get up in the morning that there was nothing wrong with me,” Goodwin said. “It seems to work very well. If you believe you can do everything else that you've done in the past, it doesn’t restrict you. I've proved to people with Parkinson’s, and other diseases like this, that it isn’t the end of the road .”

This is a message that Goodwin is eager to share when he speaks to other people with Parkinson’s.

The World Health Organization estimated in 2019 that over 8.5 million people around the globe have Parkinson’s disease, which is double the figures from 25 years ago.

Goodwin attends a weekly class near his home in Staffordshire in England, together with 30 to 40 people who have the same diagnosis.

“It’s trying to help others to take the same attitude as I do because it creates a real mental problem. Forty per cent of people diagnosed with Parkinson’s suffer from severe depression , so it's helping other people to fight it in the same way that I’ve tackled this. It's been one of the most satisfying things,” Goodwin said.

“My attitude towards it is - I can do what I’ve always done. It inhibits me, but it doesn't stop me,” Jon Goodwin to Olympics.com on his Parkinson's diagnosis.

For Goodwin, such statements are more than mere words. Seven years after getting diagnosed with the disease, he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in five days and then cycled back down within the same week.

While Parkinson’s did not stand in the way of his mountain and canoe adventures, Goodwin did fear that it would rule him out of the spaceflight.

He underwent numerous tests to prove that he could take part in Virgin's Galactic 02 mission and ultimately got the green light.

“I succeeded in going weightless in a simulated aircraft over the Bay of Los Angeles, so I was able to show that I was still able to do most of the things that a normal person [can do],” Goodwin said. “It's been interesting proving them wrong.”

Jon Goodwin: Training for space tourism

Space scientists were not the only ones that Goodwin has proved wrong. His grandson’s schoolteacher was also initially among the sceptics.

“Sebastian at six years of age turned up and said, ‘My grandad is going into space’ , and the teacher said, ‘Next question, please’. Obviously didn’t believe him. And he went up afterwards and said to the teacher, ‘My grandad is going into space’,” recalled Goodwin, who was subsequently invited to the school to give a talk about his upcoming mission.

“When you tell them you’re going into space, they look at you as though, ‘That can’t be right’, because of course it's just an unusual thing to be doing.”

Five years after that school talk, Goodwin was at Spaceport America, New Mexico as he and the other two passengers, a mother and daughter from Antigua, started training on site .

They practised being weightless in a centrifuge machine for three days and also got familiarised with the inside of the rocket ship.

“The weightlessness is just a little thing to do, to unbuckle your seatbelts and to float around the cockpit… The problem that you have in being weightless is that you’re being pushed towards the ceiling all the time, and at some point, you've got to get back into the seat, put your seatbelt on,” Goodwin said.

“That was the thing that we trained for, more than anything else, is finding windows, seatbelts, seat sides, so that you could pull yourself back into the seat to buckle yourself in before re-entry.”

Jon Goodwin and the other two passengers on board VSS Unity, Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers, experienced weightlessness in space for five minutes.

Zero hour, 9 am: An Olympian becomes an astronaut

On the morning of August 10 , everything was ready.

Goodwin was calm on board VSS Unity as he sat on the runway for half an hour before take-off.

“There wasn’t a lot of difference between that and being in a conventional airplane and taking off of the runway. I was confident that everything would work because we trained just as we've trained for the Olympics , to improve our ability,” Goodwin said. “And it's that inner confidence in your own ability that takes a certain amount of the fear away.”

Forty-five minutes after take-off, the three passengers were able to unbuckle and experience weightlessness in space.

It was five minutes that Goodwin, looking through the portal at the blue and green orb below, will never forget.

“The most impressive thing, without a doubt, is the view of the Earth from space . It was a very clear day. You could very easily see the Pacific coast of America below, and this lightness of space which presides is an indescribable moment,” he recalled.

“The thing that I said to myself all through the day and even before, in the training, is ‘I want you to enjoy that moment’. I didn't want to be taking photographs. Somebody else could do that. I wanted to live this hour and a half of something exceedingly special, and it did exceed my expectations of how beautiful it is from space.”

Jon Goodwin's family was at the space port in New Mexico to welcome him back after touchdown.

The biggest highlight of the day, however, awaited Goodwin back on solid ground.

“It was a magical moment,” he said of seeing his family, including wife Pauline Goodwin who is also an Olympic canoeist, waiting for him on the tarmac.

“ My wife ran towards me on the runway . I ran to her. My youngest son said it was incredibly moving. He said he hadn't seen that in a long time. In a marriage, you don’t go running to your wife or husband every day of the week.”

Grateful messages from people with Parkinson’s soon also flooded in.

“I certainly had congratulations from the Parkinson's community , thanking me for highlighting it, because it is only recently that people are starting to be honest about it, which is the best way of tackling it rather than trying to hide it away,” Goodwin said. “And the world reaction…has just been amazing. I never anticipated that it would touch the public's imagination like it has.”

So, after conquering outer space, what’s next for the Munich 1972 Olympian?

The man who likes pushing the boundaries of human ability is keeping up suspense about his next adventure: “Something will crop up”.

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Virgin Galactic rockets its 1st tourists to the edge of space

Company plans to offer monthly trips to aspiring space tourists.

Virgin Galactic flies 1st tourists to edge of space

Social sharing.

Virgin Galactic rocketed to the edge of space with its first tourists on Thursday, including a former British Olympian who bought his ticket 18 years ago and a mother-daughter duo from the Caribbean.

The space plane glided back to a runway landing at Spaceport America, in the New Mexico desert, after a brief flight that gave passengers a few minutes of weightlessness.

Cheers erupted from families and friends watching from below when the craft's rocket motor fired after it was released from the plane that had carried it aloft. The rocket ship reached a height of about 88 kilometres.

Richard Branson's company expects to begin offering monthly trips to customers on its winged space plane, joining Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX in the space tourism business.

Prior to launch, Virgin Galactic passenger Jon Goodwin, who was among the first to buy a ticket in 2005, said he had faith that he would someday make the trip. The 80-year-old British Olympian — who competed in canoeing in 1972 — has Parkinson's disease and wants to be an inspiration to others.

"That was by far the most awesome thing I've ever done in my life," he told the crowd after his flight.

Goodwin has said he paid $200,000 US for his ticket. The cost is now $450,000.

Company's 7th trip to space since 2018

Goodwin was joined by sweepstakes winner Keisha Schahaff, 46, a health coach from Antigua, and her daughter, Anastatia Mayers, 18, a student at Scotland's University of Aberdeen.

"A childhood dream has come true," Schahaff said. Added her daughter: "I have no words. The only thought I had the whole time was, 'Wow!'"

WATCH | Mother-daughter duo mark beginning of the space tourist era

Mother-daughter duo mark beginning of the space tourist era

Also aboard the plane-launched craft, which glides to a space shuttle-like landing: two pilots and the company's astronaut trainer.

It was Virgin Galactic's seventh trip to space since 2018, but the first with a ticket-holder.

Branson, the company's founder, hopped on board for the first full-size crew ride in 2021. Italian military and government researchers soared in June on the first commercial flight.

"Welcome to the club," he told the new space-flyers via X , formerly known as Twitter.

About 800 people are currently on Virgin Galactic's waiting list, according to the company.

Virgin Galactic's rocket ship launches from the belly of an airplane, not from the ground, and requires two pilots in the cockpit. Once the mothership reaches a height of about 15 kilometres, the space plane is released and fires its rocket motor to make the final push. Passengers can unstrap from their seats, float around the cabin for a few minutes and take in sweeping views of Earth, before the space plane glides back home and lands on a runway.

• Virgin Galactic completes final test flight ahead of taking paying customers to space
• Space tourism may be taking off, but critics not taken with its aims

Like Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin aims for the fringes of space, launching quick ups-and-downs from west Texas. Blue Origin has launched 31 people so far, but flights are on hold following a rocket crash last fall. The capsule, carrying experiments but no passengers, landed intact.

SpaceX is the only private company flying customers all the way to orbit, charging a much heftier price: tens of millions of dollars per seat. It's already flown three private crews. NASA is its biggest customer, relying on SpaceX to ferry its astronauts to and from the International Space Station since 2020.

WATCH |  Virgin Galactic has big 'space tourism' goals— but there are big hurdles ahead

Virgin Galactic has big 'space tourism' goals— but there are big hurdles ahead

New form of adventure travel.

People have been taking on adventure travel for decades, with the risks recently underscored by the implosion of the Titan submersible that killed five passengers on their way down to view the Titanic wreckage.

Virgin Galactic suffered its own casualty in 2014 when its rocket plane broke apart during a test flight, killing one pilot. Yet space tourists are still lining up, ever since the first one rocketed into orbit in 2001 with the Russians.

Branson, who lives in the British Virgin Islands, watched Thursday's flight from a party in Antigua. He had held a virtual lottery to establish a pecking order for the company's first 50 customers — dubbed the founding astronauts. Virgin Galactic said the group agreed Goodwin would go first, given his age and his Parkinson's.

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Meet the 3 civilians heading to space in Virgin Galactic’s historic launch – including a mother-daughter duo

A mother and daughter and an 80-year-old former Olympian with Parkinson's disease are set to make history when they blast off into space this week.

They comprise the crew of civilian passenger astronauts who will launch 53 miles above the Earth on Aug. 10 in Virgin Galactic's second commercial trip.

NBC News' "Stay Tuned" host Gadi Schwartz got a glimpse on TODAY at their preparations for the historic launch from Virgin Galactic's Spaceport deep in the New Mexican desert.

Here's what to know about these three civilians heading to space.

Keisha Shahaff

Keisha Schahaff, 46, and her daughter, Anastatia Mayers, 18, will become the first mother-daughter duo to ever travel to space together. The Antigua natives will also be the first astronauts from the Caribbean.

"I kind of feel like I was born in this life for this," Keisha told Gadi. As for what she's anticipating most, she said: “Looking back and seeing a beautiful planet and then looking across to see my daughter’s face while she’s looking at it as well.”

Schahaff, who's a mom of two daughters, and Mayers landed their spots through a lottery benefiting the nonprofit Space for Humanity . Branson came to their home to give them the good news in person, resulting in hugs and shouts of joy.

“Hopefully this will inspire other people as well, to go beyond these fears that’s holding them back,” Keisha said. “Take your dreams back out, conquer your fears and go get them.”

Anastatia Mayers

Anastatia Mayers, a student in Scotland at University of Aberdeen studying philosophy and physics, will be the youngest person to travel to space, according to Virgin Galactic .

She is one of the three civilians who underwent three days of rigorous training ahead of the launch, which is scheduled for 11 a.m. E.T. on Aug. 10. They are looking forward to a moment they won’t forget.

“I’m hoping to give myself that confidence to try new things and to be a little bit uncomfortable sometimes,” Anastatia said.

Jon Goodwin

The third member of the crew on the Unity ship is Jon Goodwin, 80, who competed in the slalom canoe event in the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Goodwin was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2014, but has since climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and will add a trip to space to his resume, according to his bio on the Virgin Galactic website .

"The fact that I’m suffering with Parkinson’s for 9 years just shows you this attitude of space for all is a wonderful attitude," Goodwin said in an interview with Virgin Galactic.

This will be the company's seventh trip to space as part of the mission by Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson to make space travel more accessible to everyone.

The current ticket price is $450,000 for the 90-minute flight, which includes three minutes of total weightlessness. More than 800 people are on the waitlist, according to Branson.

Scott Stump is a trending reporter and the writer of the daily newsletter This is TODAY (which you should subscribe to here! ) that brings the day's news, health tips, parenting stories, recipes and a daily delight right to your inbox. He has been a regular contributor for TODAY.com since 2011, producing features and news for pop culture, parents, politics, health, style, food and pretty much everything else. 

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Virgin Galactic launches its first space tourist flight, stepping up commercial operations

By William Harwood

Updated on: August 10, 2023 / 1:06 PM EDT / CBS News

Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic picked up the pace in the space tourism marketplace with the launch Thursday of its VSS Unity rocketplane carrying an 80-year-old former British Olympian and a mother and daughter from Antigua and Barbuda who won their tickets to fly through a fundraising lottery for the nonprofit Space for Humanity.

Jon Goodwin, an Olympian canoeist in the 1972 Munich games, health and wellness coach Keisha Schahaff and her daughter Anastatia Mayers, a physics and philosophy student at Aberdeen University, were joined by Virgin Galactic commander C.J. Stuckow, pilot Kelly Latimer and chief astronaut trainer Beth Moses for the up-and-down sub-orbital spaceflight.

Schahaff and Mayers are the first mother and daughter to fly in space together and the first representing the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda in the West Indies.

"That was like the most amazing thing I've ever done!" Schahaff said after landing. "Antigua went to space! A childhood dream has come true. I've been to space and back with my daughter. We're making history, and this is just beautiful. The pilots, everyone, they delivered exactly what they said it would be. And if anyone was wondering, Earth is round!"

Said Mayers: "I have no words. The only thought I had the entire time was wow, that's how I can sum up the experience. Just wow."

Judging by live-streamed views from inside the spacecraft as it reached a maximum altitude of nearly 55 miles — nearly five miles above the 50-mile altitude NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration recognize as the "boundary" of space — the passengers were clearly thrilled by the view and the few minutes of weightlessness they experienced.

It was Sturckow's record eighth flight to space — four aboard the space shuttle and now four at the controls of Virgin's spaceplane — while Moses, Virgin's chief astronaut instructor, took her fourth trip aloft aboard Unity. Latimer, Virgin's first female spaceplane pilot, took her first ride, as did the three passengers.

The flight marked a major milestone for Virgin owner Richard Branson, the billionaire entrepreneur and adventurer whose team has been struggling for years to transition from test flights to commercial passenger service, offering brief sojourns in weightlessness for those willing to pay $450,000 for a ticket to ride.

"The fact that I am here, the first to travel to space from Antigua, shows that space really is becoming more accessible," Schahaff said in a pre-flight statement. "I know I will be changed by my experience, and I hope I will be able to share that energy and inspire the people around me in my role as a life coach, a mother and as an ambassador for our beautiful planet."

Schahaff and Mayers won their tickets through a lottery benefiting Space for Humanity, a nonprofit founded by philanthropist and space entrepreneur Dylan Taylor that is devoted to "expanding access to space for all of humanity." Branson personally delivered the tickets.

Goodwin, who bought his ticket to fly in 2005 — the fourth person to reserve a flight — was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2014. But that did not deter him or Virgin Galactic.

"That was by far the most awesome thing I've ever done in my life," Goodwin said after landing. "The thing that surprised me more than everything else was the beauty of the Earth from space. It is completely surreal. I've got some fast cars, but that acceleration was just unbelievable. Thank you Virgin Galactic. It's been 20 years for the wait. But it's been worth every moment of it. Thank you."

With the Unity space plane strapped to the wing of Virgin's twin-fuselage VMS Eve carrier jet, the flight got underway at about 11 a.m. EDT, taking off from Spaceport America's 12,000-foot runway in the New Mexico desert near White Sands Missile Range.

After climbing to an altitude of about 45,000 feet, Unity was released, dropping like a bomb from the carrier jet's wing. Seconds later its hybrid rocket motor ignited, propelling the ship up on a near-vertical climb out of the dense lower atmosphere.

Reaching a velocity of about three times the speed of sound, the rocket motor shut down and the crew was suddenly weightless. Unity continued upward, coasting to a maximum altitude of 54.9 miles.

As they climbed, arced over the top of the trajectory and began descending, Schahaff, Mayers, Goodwin and Moses were able to unstrap and float about the cabin if they wished — the pilots remained strapped in throughout — taking in spectacular views of Earth and space.

Then, with Unity's wings "feathered," that is, swept up about 60 degrees to increase atmospheric drag and slow the descent, the spacecraft plunged back into the discernible atmosphere. The wings then were rotated back to their more traditional orientation and the pilots guided Unity, now flying as a glider, back to touchdown at Spaceport America.

The flight was Virgin's second commercial mission, following on the heels of a flight June 29 that carried  three Italian air force researchers , two Virgin pilots and a company engineer to an altitude of nearly 53 miles.

That flight was chartered by the Italian government while Thursday's flight was the first with "private astronauts." Virgin officials say some 800 applicants are on the waiting list to fly aboard the company's spaceplane.

Blue Origin, owned by Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos, has offered commercial sub-orbital flights aboard its New Shepard spacecraft since 2021, but the company is currently grounded amid work to resolve a booster problem that derailed an unpiloted research mission last year.

Thursday's flight was Virgin's seventh piloted sub-orbital mission since an initial test flight on December 13, 2018. After two more test flights,  Branson and a crew of six  completed the company's fourth space flight on July 11, 2021, climbing to an altitude of 53 miles.

After standing down to upgrade the Eve carrier jet, Virgin launched a fifth piloted test flight with six company employees on May 25, followed by the Italian research mission on June 29. Virgin plans to eventually ramp up to a flight per month.

• Virgin Galactic
• Richard Branson

Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News.

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Virgin Galactic names space tourism flight crew - including Olympian and first mother-daughter duo

Jon Goodwin competed in canoeing at the 1972 Games in Munich. The Briton will be joined on the flight by Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers, who will be the first mother and daughter to travel on a spaceflight together.

Tuesday 18 July 2023 10:33, UK

A former Olympian has been named among the crew for Virgin Galactic's first space tourism flight.

Jon Goodwin, who competed in canoeing at the 1972 Games in Munich, will also be only the second person with Parkinson's disease to reach the edge of space.

The 80-year-old will make the journey on board VSS Unity next month, alongside a mother-daughter duo who will become the first astronauts from the Caribbean.

Keisha Schahaff, 46, and 18-year-old Anastatia Mayers, who is studying physics in Aberdeen , will also be the first mother and daughter to travel on a spaceflight together.

The trio won their seats in a prize draw to raise funds for Space for Humanity, a non-profit group that aims to send ordinary citizens into space to give them a "grander perspective" on the challenges facing Earth.

Unity will reach sub-orbital space, giving passengers a few minutes of weightlessness and spectacular views of our planet before they return to the surface.

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Crew's excitement for 'magical' launch

Mr Goodwin, from Newcastle, described the opportunity as "completely magical".

He said: "I hope this inspires all others facing adversity and shows them that challenges don't have to inhibit or stop them from pursuing their dreams."

Ms Schahaff said growing up in the Caribbean, she never thought going into space would be possible.

"I know I will be changed by my experience," she said.

"I hope I will be able to share that energy and inspire the people around me - in my role as a life coach, a mother, and as an ambassador for our beautiful planet."

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

The mission, which is Virgin Galactic's second commercial spaceflight and seventh overall, will be led by professional pilots and commanders, with an astronaut instructor also on board to assess the citizen crew.

It will launch from Spaceport America in New Mexico on 10 August.

It follows the launch of Galactic 01 from the same site in June , which saw two Italian air force colonels and an aerospace engineer taken to carry out scientific research experiments.

Virgin Galactic is aiming to carry out monthly private flights, with seats priced between $250,000 (£191,000) and $450,000 (£344,000).

Related Topics

• Virgin Galactic

Dailymotion

Relive Virgin Galactic's Suborbital Flight - See What It Was Like For The Passengers

Posted: September 4, 2024 | Last updated: September 4, 2024

Experience Virgin Galactic Unity's Galactic 02 flight with these amazing views from inside and out of suborbital space plane VSS Unity. Passengers: Jon Goodwin, Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers. Crew: Commander C.J. Sturckow, pilot Kelly Latimer and Chief Astronaut Instructor Beth Moses. Credit: Space.com | footage courtesy: Virgin Galactic | edited by Steve Spaleta Music: Far Far Far by Bonnie Grace / courtesy of Epidemic Sound

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Former Olympian with Parkinson's, 80, makes history as oldest Brit to travel to space

Jon goodwin is also the second person diagnosed with parkinson’s to travel to space.

Emily Brown

An 80-year-old former Olympian has made history by blasting off on a Virgin Galactic flight and becoming the oldest Brit to ever travel to space.

Jon Goodwin, who represented Great Britain at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, made his journey on board the VSS Unity today (10 August), while his wife, Pauline, and their two sons cheered him on at Spaceport America, New Mexico.

The trip to space lasts a total of 90 minutes, and comes almost a decade after Goodwin, a former canoeist, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2014.

The disease causes parts of the brain become progressively damaged over and can cause involuntary shaking of particular parts of the body, slow movement and stiff and inflexible muscles.

Goodwin hasn't slowed down after being diagnosed, though, and in the last few years has successfully climbed up Mount Kilimanjaro and cycled back down again.

As he ventured into space, Goodwin became the second person diagnosed with Parkinson’s to make the journey, as well as the oldest Brit to travel to space and the first ever Olympian to become an astronaut.

Discussing his venture in a statement to Virgin Galactic, Goodwin said: "Seeing me do this will hopefully be inspirational to all the other people who face challenges in their lives.

"I hope it shows them that these obstacles can be the start rather than the end to new adventures, and that they can be the impetus to do even greater things.”

The trip today comes almost two decades after Goodwin first bought his ticket for the trip in 2005, at which time he paid around £156,000 ($200,000). Today, the trip costs closer to £350,000 ($450,000).

Goodwin spoke about his trip in an interview with BBC Breakfast on Sunday (6 August), when he admitted it felt 'completely surreal' to be finally taking on the trip after first booking it so many years ago.

“I always believed it would happen, a lot of people didn’t,” Goodwin said. “I had a lot of faith in the project and went out to the Mojave Desert, in California, a number of times, [to] watch the development.

"I think it’s incredibly well-spent money," Goodwin continued. "If, at the time, I was doing it with the Russians, it would have cost me millions of dollars.”

As for taking on the challenge with Parkinson’s diagnosis, the former Olympian said: “I hope it [encourages] other people to do what I’m doing, that it doesn’t stop them from doing abnormal things. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Topics:  Health , UK News , Travel

Emily Brown is the Community Desk Lead at LADbible Group. Emily first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route. She went on to graduate with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University before contributing to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems. She joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features, and now works as Community Desk Lead to commission and write human interest stories from across the globe.

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What It's Like to Go to Space as a Tourist—According to Virgin Galactic's First Astronauts

On August 10, newbie astronauts Keisha Schahaff, 46, and Anastatia Mayers, 18, made history as the first mother-daughter duo and the first Caribbean women ever to go to space. The two flew outside Earth's atmosphere with Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's space tourism company that held its first launch with commercial travelers.

Schahaff and Mayers were two of the three tourists on board spaceflight Galactic 02, which took off from Spaceport America in the middle of New Mexico’s Jornada del Muerto desert basin. The women were accompanied by 80-year-old British daredevil Jon Goodwin, who purchased his ticket almost two decades ago. Among his numerous accolades, Goodwin is now the first Olympian, and second person with Parkinson’s, to enter space. With the journey, Schahaff and Mayers earned additional superlatives, too, including becoming the youngest person (Mayers) ever to leave the planet and the sixth and seventh Black women to enter space.

“Looking back on our planet, I felt this deeper connection to love,” Schahaff says. “I did not feel myself as an individual. I could actually see and feel everything that we are.”

The trio of astronauts boarded the company’s reusable space plane, VSS Unity, and were launched on a mission that lasted around 90 minutes. VMS Eve, Galactic’s carrier plane, lifted Unity to an altitude of 50,000 feet where the ship was dropped, igniting the craft’s rocket motor and launching it to space. The Galactic 02 crew also included the space plane’s commander C.J. Sturckow and pilot Kelly Latimer, who both have years of NASA and Virgin Galactic flight experience. At peak altitude and zero gravity, all six onboard free floated at 280,000 feet for nearly four minutes—a complete and utter weightlessness.

“It almost feels like gravity is what sets the thoughts in our mind,” Schahaff continued. “Without that gravity, I felt like I was timeless—all I had was awe.”

Schahaff and Mayers at Spaceport America

The once-in-a-lifetime experience was a long time in the making. Two years ago, Schahaff won two Virgin Galactic tickets in a Space for Humanity raffle. She entered the contest while flying on a plane. Months later, Branson knocked on her door in Antigua to tell her she’d won. She immediately Facetimed her daughter, studying abroad in Scotland at Aberdeen University, and extended the invitation.

Typically, Virgin Galactic charges $450,000 per ticket. Starting in September, the company will begin regular spaceflights, with two to three tourists at a time booked about every four weeks. There’s talk of the company, eventually, working towards greater affordability, but those details generally remain unclear.

The months of build up before the takeoff were dedicated to commitment and focus. All Virgin Galactic space passengers must complete the Preflight Space Readiness Program. The 8 to 10 month training is at the Spaceport site, and designed to prepare private astronauts with a series of seminars and even flight test simulations for craft familiarity. Each syllabus depends on the individual’s physical and mental baseline.

Virgin offers accommodations close by Spaceport, as well as intensive courses that range from craft safety measures to manifest and confidence training. According to both the passengers and the staff, a huge component of the preflight experience is team bonding, creating trust and comfortability.

As a family, Mayers and Schahaff expressed that each nugget of the entire experience brought them closer together—and closer to a sense of themselves. Take the morning of the space flight, for example. On a fine line between anxiety and excitement, Schahaff stepped outside, looked up to the sky, and expressed that everything felt so “remarkably clear.”

“I could see the stars, I could see the moon, and it felt like the Universe was connecting with me again,” Schahaff says. “It said ‘you’re invited, come.’” Once Mayers woke up, she had a gut-feeling of fate and anticipation. She knew that “there was no other thing [I’d] would rather be doing.”

The entire flight was watched by audiences around the world–from the Southwestern deserts of New Mexico to huge coastal celebrations in Antigua and Barbuda, where Schahaff’s mother and Branson himself joined forces in tears.

Mayers and Schahaff’s experience has already created widespread ripple effects. From a spotlight on Antiguan and Barbudan pride to a very real, strengthening dynamic between mother and daughter. Schahaff is still processing the not-so-simple vision of Earth. As a mother, she noted that even watching her daughter throughout the journey was “breathtaking.” Now, she is more encouraged than ever to shed some insight and inspiration on dream-chasing and spirit “stretching,” which she says is crucial when reaching for goals.

Mayers, who could only say “wow” upon landing, has emphasized the level of effect the experience had on her spirit and mindset. Now appreciating the tiniest details in her life to a new immediate sense of belonging, observing the Earth was a means of absorbing indescribable love. For her part, Mayers is continuing her studies of philosophy and physics; she might just be the prime example of a new generation’s space traveler.

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80-Year-Old Man with Parkinson’s Among Passengers on First Virgin Galactic Space Tourism Flight

Passenger Jon Goodwin, 80, will be the second diagnosed with the condition to make the journey

Virgin Galactic

An 80-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease has been named among the first passengers on Virgin Galactic's second commercial space flight next month. 

Passenger Jon Goodwin, 80, will be the second diagnosed with the condition to make the journey — dubbed ‘Galactic 02’ — and the first Olympian, after canoeing in the 1972 Munich Olympic games, as the commercial flight takes off on Aug. 10.

“When I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2014, I was determined not to let it stand in the way of living life to the fullest,” Goodwin said in Virgin Galactic’s news release . “And now for me to go to space with Parkinson’s is completely magical. 

“I hope this inspires all others facing adversity and shows them that challenges don’t have to inhibit or stop them from pursuing their dreams,” the Olympian added.

Goodwin was an early ticket holder on the ‘Galactic 02’ space flight. He said “I’ve always enjoyed rising to new challenges” when speaking of his upcoming once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

Joining him in August is wellness coach Keisha Schahaff and her daughter Anastatia Mayers, 18, from Antigua. The pair will be the first Caribbeans to travel to space on the flight, after securing their seats in a draw that raised $1.7 million for the non-profit, Space for Humanity, which aims at expanding access to space. 

“When I was two years old, just looking up to the skies, I thought, ‘How can I get there?’ But, being from the Caribbean, I didn’t see how something like this would be possible,” Schahaff said in the news release . “The fact that I am here, the first to travel to space from Antigua, shows that space really is becoming more accessible.”

“I know I will be changed by my experience,” Schahaff added. She will be the first mother joined by her daughter on the space journey. 

Second-year college student Mayers will also be the second-youngest passenger to travel to space on the trip. Mayers currently studies philosophy and physics at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. 

Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor Beth Moses will be accompanying the trio on the space flight. She has made the journey three times with Virgi1n Galactic and was the first passenger on the company’s space plane in 2019. 

So far, Virgin Galactic has sold around 800 tickets for the flights, with 600 priced up to $250,000 and 200 at $450,000, CNN reported. 

Never miss a story — sign up for  PEOPLE's free daily newsletter  to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

In June, a group of Italian researchers reached the edge of space after taking off from the New Mexico desert on a quest to deliver Virgin Galactic’s first mission of bringing commercial spaceflight to all.

That month, it was announced that Virgin Galactic — the brainchild of British billionaire Sir Richard Branson — will proceed with its second mission in August, per CNBC.

The suborbital flights last a minimum of 90 minutes and reach 2,600 mph while transporting four passengers to the edge of space for incredible views, according to the program's website .

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Where Kamala Harris Stands on the Issues: Abortion, Immigration and More

She wants to protect the right to abortion nationally. Here’s what else to know about her positions.

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By Maggie Astor

• Published July 21, 2024 Updated Aug. 24, 2024

With Vice President Kamala Harris having replaced President Biden on the Democratic ticket, her stances on key issues will be scrutinized by both parties and the nation’s voters.

She has a long record in politics: as district attorney of San Francisco, as attorney general of California, as a senator, as a presidential candidate and as vice president.

Here is an overview of where she stands.

Ms. Harris supports legislation that would protect the right to abortion nationally, as Roe v. Wade did before it was overturned in 2022, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

After the Dobbs ruling, she became central to the Biden campaign’s efforts to keep the spotlight on abortion, given that Mr. Biden — with his personal discomfort with abortion and his support for restrictions earlier in his career — was a flawed messenger. In March, she made what was believed to be the first official visit to an abortion clinic by a president or vice president.

She consistently supported abortion rights during her time in the Senate, including cosponsoring legislation that would have banned common state-level restrictions, like requiring doctors to perform specific tests or have hospital admitting privileges in order to provide abortions.

As a presidential candidate in 2019, she argued that states with a history of restricting abortion rights in violation of Roe should be subject to what is known as pre-clearance for new abortion laws — those laws would have to be federally approved before they could take effect. That proposal is not viable now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe.

Climate change

Ms. Harris has supported the Biden administration’s climate efforts , including legislation that provided hundreds of billions of dollars in tax credits and rebates for renewable energy and electric vehicles.

“It is clear the clock is not just ticking, it is banging,” she said in a speech last year , referring to increasingly severe and frequent disasters spurred by climate change. “And that is why, one year ago, President Biden and I made the largest climate investment in America’s history.”

During her 2020 presidential campaign, she emphasized the need for environmental justice , a framework that calls for policies to address the adverse effects that climate change has on poor communities and people of color. She has emphasized that as vice president as well.

In 2019, Ms. Harris, then a senator, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, introduced legislation that would have evaluated environmental rules and laws by how they affected low-income communities. It would have also established an independent Office of Climate and Environmental Justice Accountability and created a “senior adviser on climate justice” within several federal agencies. In 2020, Ms. Harris introduced a more sweeping version of the bill. None of the legislation was passed.

Ms. Harris was tasked with leading the Biden administration’s efforts to secure voting rights legislation, a job she asked for . The legislation — which went through several iterations but was ultimately blocked in the Senate — would have countered voting restrictions in Republican-led states, limited gerrymandering and regulated campaign finance more strictly.

This year, she met with voting rights advocates and described a strategy that included creating a task force on threats to election workers and challenging state voting restrictions in court.

She has condemned former President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. In a speech in 2022 marking the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, she said that day had showed “what our nation would look like if the forces who seek to dismantle our democracy are successful.” She added, “What was at stake then, and now, is the right to have our future decided the way the Constitution prescribes it: by we the people, all the people.”

Economic policy

In campaign events this year, Ms. Harris has promoted the Biden administration’s economic policies, including the infrastructure bill that Mr. Biden signed, funding for small businesses, a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act that capped the cost of insulin for people on Medicare and student debt forgiveness.

She indicated at an event in May that the administration’s policies to combat climate change would also bring economic benefits by creating jobs in the renewable energy industry. At another event , she promoted more than $100 million in Energy Department grants for auto parts manufacturers to pivot to electric vehicles, which she said would “help to keep our auto supply chains here in America.”

As a senator, she introduced legislation that would have provided a tax credit of up to $6,000 for middle- and low-income families, a proposal she emphasized during her presidential campaign as a way to address income inequality.

Immigration

One of Ms. Harris’s mandates as vice president has been to address the root causes of migration from Latin America, like poverty and violence in migrants’ home countries. Last year, she announced $950 million in pledges from private companies to support Central American communities. Similar commitments made previously totaled about $3 billion.

In 2021, she visited the U.S.-Mexico border and said : “This issue cannot be reduced to a political issue. We’re talking about children, we’re talking about families, we are talking about suffering.”

More recently, she backed a bipartisan border security deal that Mr. Biden endorsed but Mr. Trump, by urging Republican lawmakers to kill it , effectively torpedoed. The legislation would have closed the border if crossings reached a set threshold, and it would have funded thousands of new border security agents and asylum officers. “We are very clear, and I think most Americans are clear, that we have a broken immigration system and we need to fix it,” Ms. Harris said in March .

Israel and Gaza

Ms. Harris called in March for an “immediate cease-fire” in Gaza and described the situation there as a “humanitarian catastrophe.” She said that “the threat Hamas poses to the people of Israel must be eliminated” but also that “too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.”

In an interview later that month , she emphasized her opposition to an Israeli invasion of Rafah, the city in southern Gaza to which more than a million people had fled. “I have studied the maps,” she said. “There’s nowhere for those folks to go, and we’re looking at about 1.5 million people in Rafah who are there because they were told to go there, most of them.”

She has said on multiple occasions that she supports a two-state solution.

Racial justice

Racial justice was a theme of Ms. Harris’s presidential campaign. In a memorable debate exchange in 2019 , she denounced Mr. Biden’s past work with segregationist senators and opposition to school busing mandates.

She has called for ending mandatory minimum sentences, cash bail and the death penalty, which disproportionately affect people of color.

Amid the protests that followed the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, she was one of the senators who introduced the Justice in Policing Act, which would have made it easier to prosecute police officers, created a national registry of police misconduct and required officers to complete training on racial profiling. It was not passed.

Her record as a prosecutor also came into play during her presidential campaign. Critics noted that as attorney general of California, she had generally avoided stepping in to investigate police killings.

Maggie Astor covers politics for The New York Times, focusing on breaking news, policies, campaigns and how underrepresented or marginalized groups are affected by political systems. More about Maggie Astor