Virgin Galactic announced Thursday that monthly commercial flights to the edge of space will begin for ticket-holders in August, following a research flight planned for the end of June. The space tourism company will be taking up a team of specialists with the Italian Air Force and the National Research Centre of Italy to conduct microgravity research.

The window for that research flight will begin June 27 and span the next three days, with timing depending on the weather. After that, those who have been waiting more than a decade for their ride aboard Virgin Galactic's rocket-powered space plane are expected to get their chance. The company said the first of those flights will begin in early August, with monthly flights following that.