SpaceShipTwo news

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Richard Branson's company has now come one step closer to getting back into the space race after its new SpaceShipTwo craft, called VSS Unity, completed its first test flight yesterday.

blog post

The tests took place in the Mojave desert, California.

The test for the new spaceship, was a 'captive carry,' in which the spaceship stayed attached to its carrier WhiteKnightTwo aircraft, also called VMS Eve, for the entire flight.

'In this configuration, WhiteKnightTwo serves as a veritable ‘"flying wind tunnel,"allowing the highest fidelity method of testing airflow around SpaceShipTwo while simultaneously testing how the spaceship performs when exposed to the frigid temperatures found at today’s maximum altitude of ~50,000 feet and above,' the post said.

The test flight was led by four test pilots. Two were in SpaceShipTwo and two were on the carrier aircraft.

 

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Virgin Galactic's second SpaceShipTwo performed its first free flight on Saturday.

The second SpaceShipTwo, named VSS Unity, and its carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo took off at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California around 9.50am.

The spaceship successfully detached from the carrier less than an hour later, with David McKay and Mark Stuky piloting VSS Unity to a safe landing after 10 minutes.

The pilots reported 'excellent flight qualities'

Saturday's flight had been planned for November 1, but high winds meant the spaceplane remained attached to the carrier. Another attempt two days later was aborted due to a technical issue.

Virgin Galactic will enter a new phase of testing after the successful free flight, with several more planned to ensure the aircraft's aerodynamics before moving onto powered flights.

WhiteKnightTwo landing on Saturday

VSS Unity landing Saturday

Captive carry, Sept 2016

 

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Richard Branson has announced plans to launch people into space in 2018, with the first test flights beginning this year.

The Virgin Galactic boss said he would be 'very disappointed' not to go into space himself in 2018 and hopes his space tourism programme will be up and running in the same year.

https://www.inverse.com/article/29860-virgin-galactic-richard-branson-human-spaceflight-2018

 

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Virgin Galactic has successfully tested the 'feathering' of its spaceship for the first time since a fatal crash in 2014.

The test flight was the fourth glide flight (and eight flight overall) of VSS Unity, and the 227th flight of WhiteKnightTwo VMS Eve.