Virgin Galactic, which hopes to take the first tourists to space, is back in testing following large year’s tragedy, during which one of two pilots died over California’s Mojave Desert.
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Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is scheduled to show off its newest spacecraft at an event here Friday, in what would mark a significant milestone for a company that suffered a fatal accident just over a year ago.
The first SpaceShipTwo broke apart in high-speed flight on October 31, 2014, when the co-pilot prematurely unlocked a system that is meant to slow and stabilize the craft as it re-enters the atmosphere.
Over a year after the tradegy SpaceShipTwo’s arrival signals a return to testing for Virgin Galactic.
Co-pilot Michael Tyner Alsbury, 39, of Tehachapi, California, was found dead inside the wreckage.
A key feature of the design is the so-called feathering system – a term derived from the feathers of a badminton projectile.
A National Transportation Safety Board investigation found that Scaled Composites, a company that was developing SpaceShipTwo with Virgin Galactic and was responsible for its test program, should have had systems to compensate for human error.
After the crash, Sir Branson seemed unsure whether or not Virgin Galactic would continue with its program, despite being “upbeat” about the company’s recovery from the crash. It comes roughly 15 1/2 months since an earlier incarnation was destroyed in a test flight, killing one of the pilots. The new SpaceShipTwo will now become Virgin Galactic’s main vehicle, although the final decision will depend on the performance of the space plane.
The company stressed in a statement Thursday its commitment to testing from the level of individual parts on up to the complete craft.
First, the new spacecraft would need to go through a series of rigorous tests, the company said, laying out in detail how even before the vehicle was assembled, the company “poked, prodded, stretched, squeezed, bent and twisted everything to be used to build these vehicles”. “And so, we will begin our full vehicle tests by validating and calibrating that existing data set by running tests similar to what you’ve seen before”.
SpaceShipTwo is the successor to SpaceShipOne, the winged rocket plane that won the $10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004 by demonstrating a reusable spacecraft capable of carrying three people could make two flights within two weeks to at an altitude of least 62 miles. Charles Lindbergh won that prize with his nonstop flight from NY to Paris in 1927.
Unlike other spacecraft that launch from the ground, SpaceShipTwo is created to be attached to the WhiteKnightTwo, a special jet aircraft, until an altitude of 45,000 feet is reached.
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The space line says SpaceShipTwo’s cabin is roomy enough for passengers to float during a few minutes of weightlessness before beginning an unpowered glide to a runway landing.
