SpaceShipTwo

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 36 сек. назад

ARTICLE: Branson pride in VSS Unity's test flight success -

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/05/branson-vss-unitys-test-success/ ...

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Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight 2 ч. назад

Video of VSS Unity's second powered flight which achieved an altitude of 114,500 feet.

Credit: @virgingalactic

Video (1:02)

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Richard Branson Welcomes VSS Unity Home from Second Supersonic Flight

Virgin Galactic

Опубликовано: 29 мая 2018 г.

Richard Branson joined Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company teams this morning, on the Mojave Air and Space Port flight line, to witness VSS Unity's second successful, supersonic, rocket powered test flight.

"It was great to see our beautiful spaceship back in the air and to share the moment with the talented team who are taking us, step by step, to space" Branson said. "Seeing Unity soar upwards at supersonic speeds is inspiring and absolutely breathtaking. We are getting ever closer to realizing our goals. Congratulations to the whole team!"

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http://spacenews.com/second-spaceshiptwo-makes-second-powered-test-flight/

Second SpaceShipTwo makes second powered test flight
by Jeff Foust — May 29, 2018


Virgin Galactic's second SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity, makes it second powered test flight May 29. Credit: MarsScientific.com & Trumbull Studios

WASHINGTON — Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane performed a successful test flight May 29, bringing the company one step closer to realizing its long-delayed dreams of space tourism and research flights.

VSS Unity, the second SpaceShipTwo built for Virgin Galactic, took off attached to its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft at about 11:40 a.m. Eastern from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. About an hour later, SpaceShipTwo separated from WhiteKnightTwo and fired its hybrid rocket motor for 31 seconds.

The vehicle reached a top speed of Mach 1.9 and altitude of 34,900 meters on the flight, both records for the SpaceShipTwo test flight program. The spaceplane glided to a runway landing in Mojave about 10 minutes later.

The flight was the second powered test of VSS Unity, after its first flight April 5. The first SpaceShipTwo, VSS Enterprise, broke up during its fourth powered test in October 2014, killing the vehicle's co-pilot and injuring the pilot.

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A key difference in this test from the previous one, the company said in a post-flight statement, was a shift of the vehicle's center of gravity rearward by adding passenger seats and other equipment in the main cabin. That was intended to more closely simulate the conditions of an operational flight, when the vehicle will carry up to six people in addition to the two pilots.

Among those who witnessed the flight was Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson. "It was great to see our beautiful spaceship back in the air and to share the moment with the talented team who are taking us, step by step, to space," he said in a statement. "Seeing Unity soar upwards at supersonic speeds is inspiring and absolutely breathtaking. We are getting ever closer to realizing our goals. Congratulations to the whole team!"

Branson, in a recent interview with BBC Radio 4, said he expected to fly on SpaceShipTwo in the next year. "I think over the next 12 months I hope to become an astronaut, and I think we've got a very exciting time ahead," he said, adding he was undergoing additional physical training to prepare for the flight.

Branson acknowledged in that interview competition with Blue Origin, which has flown its New Shepard suborbital vehicle on a series of test flights, most recently April 29. Unlike Virgin Galactic, which started selling SpaceShipTwo tickets more than a decade ago, Blue Origin has not started selling tickets for New Shepard flights or even announced a ticket price.

"We don't know the ticket price yet. We haven't decided," Jeff Bezos, billionaire founder of Blue Origin, said May 25 during an on-stage interview at the International Space Development Conference in Los Angeles. He didn't give a timeframe for starting commercial flights, but said he expected New Shepard to fly frequently, building up experience for the BE-3 engine that powers the vehicle and will also be used on the upper stage of the company's New Glenn orbital launch vehicle.

"I think we're both neck and neck as to who will put people into space first, and I think we're talking about months away, not years away, so it's close," Branson said of Virgin's competition with Blue Origin in his BBC interview. "Ultimately, we've got to do it in a safe way. I think both of us will have people into space within 12 months."

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/05/30/virgin-galactics-spaceshiptwo-completes-second-powered-test-flight/

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo completes second powered test flight
May 30, 2018 | Stephen Clark


Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo fires its engine during Tuesday's test flight. Credit: Virgin Galactic

Helmed by two test pilots, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane set new altitude and speed records for the company's test program Tuesday during a powered flight over California's Mojave Desert.

Tuesday's test flight moved Virgin Galactic closer to eventually flying paying passengers to the edge of space on short, suborbital trips after multiple delays in the privately-funded program, including a 2014 accident that killed a test pilot, injured another, and destroyed the company's first SpaceShipTwo vehicle.

Carried aloft under a carrier jet named VMS Eve from the Mojave Air and Spaceport in Mojave, California, the VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo vehicle was dropped from its mothership and ignited its hybrid rocket motor around 12:43 p.m. EDT (1643 GMT; 9:43 a.m. PDT).

Burning a mixture of rubber-based solid fuel — called HTPB — and nitrous oxide, VSS Unity fired its rocket motor for 31 seconds as pilots Dave Mackay and Mark "Forger" Stucky steered the craft on a steep climb. The rocket plane reached a maximum speed of Mach 1.9 and a peak altitude of around 114,500 feet (34,900 meters) on Tuesday's flight, according to Virgin Galactic.

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Mackay and Stucky guided VSS Unity back to Earth, activating a "feathering" mechanism to raise its twin tail boom, helping orient and slow the craft during descent. The pilots then reconfigured the vehicle for landing, deployed its landing gear, then touched down on a runway at the Mojave Air and Spaceport to complete Tuesday's flight.

The powered test flight Tuesday was the second for VSS Unity after an April 5 test that took the vehicle to a top speed of Mach 1.87 and an altitude of 84,271 feet (about 25,700 meters).


VSS Unity touches down at Mojave Air and Spaceport. Credit: Virgin Galactic

Engineers intended for Tuesday's test flight to improve their understanding of the craft's supersonic handling characteristics and control system performance with VSS Unity flying in a configuration that was closer to the layout to be used on commercial passenger flights, Virgin Galactic said in a statement.

Ground crews added passenger seats and related equipment for VSS Unity's second powered test flight, shifting the vehicle's center of gravity rearward, the company said.

On a typical commercial flight, two pilots will command SpaceShipTwo, with six passengers seated behind them.

In an interview with CNBC after Tuesday's flight, Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson said around two or three more SpaceShipTwo test flights are planned before the vehicle reaches space for the first time.

"It was great to see our beautiful spaceship back in the air and to share the moment with the talented team who are taking us, step by step, to space" Branson said in a statement. "Seeing Unity soar upwards at supersonic speeds is inspiring and absolutely breathtaking. We are getting ever closer to realizing our goals. Congratulations to the whole team!"

Branson viewed Tuesday's flight at Mojave, and he plans to be among the first to ride SpaceShipTwo when commercial operations commence.

Virgin Galactic is facing stiff competition from Blue Origin, backed by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, to be the first company to launch a commercial space tourism business. Unlike Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, Blue Origin's reusable New Shepard rocket takes off from a launch pad and carries a crew capsule, which descends back to Earth under parachutes.

While Virgin Galactic says hundreds of people have signed up for rides on SpaceShipTwo, Blue Origin has not started selling tickets for its space tourism vehicle, or revealed the price for a seat.

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VSS Unity Second Rocket Powered Flight - UNCUT

Virgin Galactic

Опубликовано: 30 мая 2018 г.

Watch uncut telescopic footage of VSS Unity's second supersonic rocket powered flight; from release, through boost, into feathered decent and glide

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[Olaf]

https://twitter.com/virgingalactic/status/1022459909944688640

Our team has prepped #SpaceShipTwo for her flight test today and the vehicles are now heading to the runway
 

 
 
 
 
 

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Parabolicarc.com‏ @spacecom 24 мин. назад

#@VirgiNGalactic #SpaceShipTwo Unity set for third powered flight this morning. Plan to exceed previous engine burn of 30 seconds.

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Virgin Galactic‏Подлинная учетная запись @virgingalactic 6 мин. назад

Every time #VSSUnity is tested we gain invaluable experience and fresh data. Today among other things we plan to gather more data on supersonic flight, aerodynamics, as well as thermal dynamics

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Brady Kenniston‏ @TheFavoritist 35 сек. назад

SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity & WhiteKnightTwo from @virgingalactic are currently on the ramp preparing for today's early morning test flight. The views are spectacular!

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TheSpaceshipCompany‏Подлинная учетная запись @TheSpaceshipCo 5 мин. назад

As on all test flights, Unity's cabin is equipped to gather vital data. Cabin analysis systems help us understand the environment inside during powered flight, including: temperatures, pressures, humidity, acoustics, thermal response, vibration, acceleration & radiation

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Virgin Galactic‏Подлинная учетная запись @virgingalactic 7 мин. назад

There she goes! #VMSEve & #VSSUnity have taken to the skies

[Olaf]

https://twitter.com/virgingalactic/status/1022508277496594437

There she goes!  #VMSEve & #VSSUnity have taken to the skies

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Brady Kenniston‏ @TheFavoritist 1 мин. назад

.@virgingalactic's WhiteKnightTwo has departed KMHV carrying SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity for it's powered test flight this morning.

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TheSpaceshipCompany‏Подлинная учетная запись @TheSpaceshipCo 3 мин. назад

Today is the 14th flight for VSS Unity #SpaceShipTwo, 252nd for VMS Eve #WhiteKnightTwo



Virgin Galactic‏Подлинная учетная запись @virgingalactic 5 мин. назад

Today is the 14th flight for VSS Unity #SpaceShipTwo, 252nd for VMS Eve #WhiteKnightTwo

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Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 1 мин. назад

The White Knight 2 carrier plane went airborne around 1545 UTC on flight WK2-252/PF2-14.

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Jack Beyer‏ @thejackbeyer 25 с. назад

Ok. Wow. Just watched @virgingalactic #SpaceShipTwo take off head on. That was awesome. @NASASpaceflight

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TheSpaceshipCompany‏Подлинная учетная запись @TheSpaceshipCo 55 сек. назад

VSS Unity is flying free, having separated cleanly from VMS Eve
#SpaceShipTwo #WhiteKnightTwo

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TheSpaceshipCompany‏Подлинная учетная запись @TheSpaceshipCo 1 мин. назад

VSS Unity's rocket motor has been ignited for today's planned partial duration burn. Pointing upwards and accelerating fast

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TheSpaceshipCompany‏Подлинная учетная запись @TheSpaceshipCo 49 сек. назад

Pilots have shut down rocket motor and tail-booms are about to be raised into the #SpaceShipTwo "feathered" re-entry position