The flight experience will feature an air launch followed by a rocket-powered ascent at three and a half times the speed of sound, the silence of space, several minutes of out-of-seat weightlessness and views of earth. Virgin Galactic is nearing its goal of turning public into astronauts.
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The co-pilot prematurely initiated the ship’s feather system which caused it to break apart mid-flight. One test pilot was killed in the accident.
The new SpaceShipTwo is the first vehicle to be manufactured by The Spaceship Company, Virgin Galactic’s wholly owned manufacturing arm, and is the second vehicle of its design ever constructed.
But there’s a lot of testing still to be done, and Virgin Galactic is now hoping for a maiden voyage in early 2018. “Space Exploration has already been a great unifier”, he said.
These vehicle changes haven’t been tested in flight yet, though.
SpaceShipTwo will be carried aloft beneath the wing of a mother ship, which will release it an altitude of around 45,000 feet.
“Helping the team unveil the new SpaceShipTwo not only reflects our supporting role in the Virgin Galactic programme, but it was also an impressive display of the Range Rover’s towing capability”. But there was also a somber tone. The launch came more than a year after the tragic 2014 crash during one of the company’s test flights.
Virgin plans on “debuting the first commercial human spaceflight program in history”.
The Spaceship Company President Doug Shane said: “Building a talented team for our assembly facility in Mojave is perhaps what I take the most pride in”. But at the same time, it maintains that “this isn’t a race” and that it “won’t cut corners”.
During operational flights, which will take off from Spaceport America in New Mexico, the space plane will take passengers up to a minimum of 62 miles above Earth’s surface – the traditionally accepted boundary where outer space begins.
“Obviously it was a horrendous day when it happened and I must admit we had moments where I questioned if we should carry on”, Branson admitted.
The new spaceship was already under construction before the other ship crashed.
Yes, we heard the same thing eight years ago from Virgin Galactic, which is still pushing to become the world’s first space tourism company.
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“When we had the space accident, that gave us 24 hours of soul searching”, said billionaire Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic parent Virgin Group of London at a Thursday panel discussion in downtown.
