Purdue University will send a professor, a student and an alumnus on a dedicated suborbital research flight with Virgin Galactic in 2027, university officials and the company confirmed this week. Branded Purdue 1, the mission is intended to put scientists and trainees directly into the microgravity environment for human-tended experiments that researchers say are difficult to replicate on the ground.

“The Purdue 1 mission set for 2027 is exactly what we envisioned when we built our spaceflight system and research platform, putting scientists, engineers and students at the heart of discovery, enabling them to conduct and interact with human-tended experiments in suborbital space,” said Mike Moses, president of spaceline at Virgin Galactic and a Purdue alumnus. “This mission is proof that space is now an accessible frontier.”

Details released by Purdue describe a mission architecture in which researchers will fly aboard Virgin Galactic’s suborbital vehicle to experience several minutes of microgravity, during which they will activate, monitor and adjust experiments in real time. Purdue did not disclose the specific experiments selected for Purdue 1, but emphasized the flight’s role in education and workforce development, saying the participants will return with data and operational experience that can be applied to longer-duration orbital programs and commercial development.

Suborbital flights occupy a niche between parabolic aircraft maneuvers and orbital missions: they offer a higher quality and longer duration of microgravity than parabolic flights while remaining far less costly and logistically complex than launch-to-orbit. For universities, that balance can provide a practical way to test hypotheses in fluid dynamics, combustion, materials science and biological processes under near-weightless conditions, while allowing researchers to intervene directly with experiments during flight.

The Purdue-Virgin Galactic collaboration also underscores a broader trend in which private spacelines and academic institutions partner to democratize access to space. Virgin Galactic markets suborbital flights to both private individuals and research teams, offering a runway-return profile that allows for quick turnaround and recovery of experiment hardware. Mike Moses, who leads Virgin Galactic’s spaceline operations and is a Purdue graduate, framed the mission as an instance of commercial infrastructure delivering a scientific platform.

Regulatory and technical hurdles remain. The target 2027 date is contingent on vehicle readiness, mission integration work and federal oversight, including licenses from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation. Safety protocols and experiment certification processes will determine which payloads can be flown and how teams prepare for the abbreviated, high-intensity flight environment.

Ethical and environmental questions shadow the expansion of commercial suborbital activity. Critics point to the carbon footprint of rocket launches and warn against privileging institutions that can afford bespoke missions. Proponents counter that lower-cost, frequent access to space can accelerate research, diversify participation and seed future innovations.

For Purdue students and faculty, the promise is tangible: direct involvement in real missions that teach not just scientific method but operational judgment under pressure. For the broader scientific community, Purdue 1 will be an early test of whether routine, university-led suborbital missions can become a reliable stepping stone in a research ecosystem increasingly reliant on commercial partners.