Yesterday, Virgin Galactic showed off its new SpaceShipTwo vehicle, called the VSS Unity, in a flashy and slightly absurd ceremony at the Mojave Air and Spaceport in California.
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The announcement came 16 months after the tragic 2014 crash during a test flight of the Virgin Space Ship (VSS) Enterprise, the current spaceship’s predecessor.
The spaceflight system won several awards for the aeronautical achievement, and an agreement with Virgin Galactic to develop a commercial version of the system.
The accident hampered Virgin Galactic’s progress, but the men and women who get the company off the ground say they remain as committed as ever to their main mission, taking the next step in humanity’s journey to space. And it is clearly eager, after years of delays, to start flying the hundreds of people, including celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, who spent as much as $250,000 on tickets.
Created to take thrillseekers into space, seats on the ride, which can carry six passengers at a time, will cost $US250,000 ($A349,550), with more than 700 people said to have signed up for the journey so far.
The company has vowed to take keen and step-by-step testing before they allow passengers to travel in its spaceship.
A National Transportation Safety Board investigation has unveiled that Scaled Composites, which was developing SpaceShipTwo with Virgin Galactic and responsible for its team program, should have compensated for human error. Once that’s done, SpaceShip Two will be mounted to its “carry” vehicle, the WhiteKnightTwo.
Once those tests are completed, the powered test flights can begin.
“Our lovely new spaceship, VSS Unity, is the embodiment of that goal and also a great testament to what can be achieved when true teamwork, great skill and deep pride are combined with a common objective”, Branson remarked in a press release. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is also trying to do the same with its New Shepard space system, and XCOR Aerospace is also working to develop a space plane to fly private tourists to suborbital space and back. To ensure Hawking’s contributions are remembered even if he finds himself unable to personally fly into space, the company has now included a flag in the Unity’s logo bearing an image of Hawking’s eye. The company insisted that they will launch it once it is ready.
Currently, the most pressing task for Virgin Galactic is to prove that the modifications made to the vehicle have indeed made it safer.
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The new spacecraft was revealed by Sir Richard Branson at a special event at the company’s headquarters in New Mexico. However, at least two dozen customers requested refunds following the accident in 2014.
