A Caribbean student and her mother were among the passengers of the private suborbital spacecraft VSS Unity who accidentally won a ticket to space.
Keisha Shahaff, 46, and her 18-year-old daughter Anastaysha Myers from Antigua and Barbuda took a suborbital flight on Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft. Both ended up aboard it by accident. In 2022, Shahaff was flying to the UK to help her daughter sort out problems with her British visa. On the plane, she saw an advertisement for a raffle and decided to fill out the form, not expecting to win.
A few months later, the woman learned she had made it to the top 20 finalists. Then Virgin founder Richard Branson visited her in Antigua and personally congratulated her on winning the competition.
Shahaff’s daughter was thrilled at the prospect of going into space. The girl believes that the visa problems that caused her mother to have to take a long-haul flight were divine providence.
The full cost of the ticket, which they got for free, is around £350,000
