Virgin Galactic rocket plane reaches space again in test flight
Virgin Galactic’s rocket plane reached space for a second time in a test flight over California on Friday. It climbed higher and faster than before while also carrying a crew member to evaluate the long-awaited passenger experience.
The winged spaceship soared at three times the speed of sound to an altitude of 55.8 miles before gliding to a safe landing at Mojave Air and Space Port in the desert north of Los Angeles, Virgin Galactic said.
In addition to chief pilot David Mackay and co-pilot Mike “Sooch” Masucci, the crew included Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor, Beth Moses.
Our Chief Astronaut Trainer, Beth Moses, experienced zero-g float time as SpaceShipTwo reached apogee today. Three new @virgingalactic Commercial Astronauts. pic.twitter.com/OrVSm1PAvE
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) February 22, 2019
Moses, described as an expert micro-gravity researcher who is in charge of evaluating the passenger cabin, floated free to test elements of the interior.
Virgin Galactic is working toward commercial operations that will take passengers on supersonic thrill rides to the lower reaches of space to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and a view of Earth below.
The company intends to operate a fleet of spaceships out of Spaceport America in the high desert of southern New Mexico.
The flight was delayed two days due to winds, and company founder Sir Richard Branson tweeted that he had to miss it so he could attend a concert in Colombia to raise money for humanitarian aid to crisis-stricken Venezuela.
“Sad to miss spaceflight but looking forward to the concert,” he wrote.
Gutted I couldn’t be on the flight line to see @virgingalactic reach space for the second time as I had promised to help organise #VenezuelaAidLive – but a huge congratulations to the team! https://t.co/t2mG9TrR9h pic.twitter.com/rcnmZ8ksE9
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) February 22, 2019
The spaceship, named VSS Unity, is carried aloft by a special carrier aircraft and released at high altitude where it ignites its rocket.
It first reached space on December 13 in a flight to an altitude of 51.4 miles at slightly less than Mach 3.
Earlier this month, the rocket motor from that flight was donated to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and pilots Mark “Forger” Stucky and Rick “CJ” Sturckow were awarded commercial astronaut wings by the US Department of Transportation.
The only previous commercial astronaut wings went to pilots Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie, for their 2004 flights in SpaceShipOne, the predecessor to Virgin Galactic’s rocket plane, which is a design called SpaceShipTwo.
A major goal of Friday’s flight was evaluating its handling during descent with its twin tails rotated upward relative to the fuselage.
The “feathered” configuration is used to slow and stabilise the craft as it falls back into the thickening atmosphere.
The name came from designer Burt Rutan comparing the mechanism to the feathers of a badminton shuttlecock. The tails rotate back to normal position for the glide to Earth.
Sir Richard Branson has said he would like to make his first flight to space this summer on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Like the December flight, VSS Unity again carried a payload of various experiments organised under a Nasa programme.
