SpaceShipTwo

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Virgin Galactic‏Подлинная учетная запись @virgingalactic 52 сек. назад

With the feathers lowered, VSS Unity is turning back to @MojaveAirport for the glide home

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Brady Kenniston‏ @TheFavoritist 2 мин. назад

.@virgingalactic SpaceShipTwo #VSSUnity under powered flight speeding toward the edge of earth's atmosphere.

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Virgin Galactic‏Подлинная учетная запись @virgingalactic 8 сек. назад

Touch down. Another successful test flight for VSS Unity. Congratulations to our pilots Dave Mackay and Mike 'Sooch' Masucci #SpaceshipTwo

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Brady Kenniston‏ @TheFavoritist 5 сек. назад

#VSSUnity from @virgingalactic touches down just minutes after it's powered flight over Mojave.

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Virgin Galactic‏Подлинная учетная запись @virgingalactic 1 мин. назад

Today VSS Unity completed her third powered test flight.
#OnwardsAndUpwards #SpaceShipTwo getting #NMReady

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The Spaceship Company
1 ч · 

Design - Build - TEST! It's wheels up! #makingdreamstakeflight



The Spaceship Company
10 мин. · 

And it's touch down! Another step closer to realising our dreams #spaceshiptwo #makingdreamstakeflight

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Brady Kenniston‏ @TheFavoritist 20 мин. назад

WhiteKnightTwo makes it's approach after dropping #VSSUnity for a powered test flight this morning.

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TheSpaceshipCompany‏Подлинная учетная запись @TheSpaceshipCo 17 мин. назад

VMS Eve has touched down. Thanks to our pilots Todd Ericson and Kelly Latimer for completing today's test flight @MojaveAirport

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Parabolicarc.com‏ @spacecom 3 мин. назад

So burn was a bit shorter than we thought (42 seconds) and altitude was 170K feet with the ship hitting Mach 2.2. All records for the program. #SpaceShipTwo

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TheSpaceshipCompany‏Подлинная учетная запись @TheSpaceshipCo 3 мин. назад

Updated key stats from today's test flight:

Release altitude: 46,500 ft
Burn time: 42 seconds
Boost Mach: 2.47
Apogee: 170,800 ft, 32.3 miles, 52 km
Re-entry Mach: 1.7

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Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 58 сек. назад

Spaceship Two pilots Dave Mackay and Mike Masucci have now joined the very small number of `mesonauts' - people who have made it as high as the mesosphere but not made it to space.

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http://thespaceshipcompany.com/mesosphere-mach-2/

July 26, 2018

INTO THE MESOSPHERE AT MACH 2

Virgin Galactic test pilots broke Mach 2 this morning, as VSS Unity took her third rocket-powered supersonic outing in less than four months. After a clean release from carrier aircraft VMS Eve at 46,500 ft, pilots Dave Mackay and Mike "Sooch" Masucci lit the spaceship's rocket motor, before pulling up into a near vertical climb and powering towards the black sky at 2.47 times the speed of sound.

The planned 42 seconds rocket burn took pilots and spaceship through the Stratosphere and, at an apogee of 170,800 ft, into the Mesosphere for the first time. This region, often referred to by scientists as the "Ignorosphere", is an under-studied atmospheric layer because it is above the range of balloon flight, and in the future is an area we can help the research community explore further.

After a safe landing back at Mojave Air and Space Port, Chief Pilot Dave Mackay summed up the experience: "It was a thrill from start to finish. Unity's rocket motor performed magnificently again and Sooch pulled off a smooth landing. This was a new altitude record for both of us in the cockpit, not to mention our mannequin in the back, and the views of Earth from the black sky were magnificent."

Sooch added: "Having been a U2 pilot and done a lot of high altitude work, or what I thought was high altitude work, the view from 170,000 ft was just totally amazing. The flight was exciting and frankly beautiful. We were able to complete a large number of test points which will give us good insight as we progress to our goal of commercial service."

Every time VSS Unity is tested on the ground, or in the skies, we gain invaluable experience and fresh data. This continuously improves our modelling and helps us optimise objectives and test points as we progressively expand the flight envelope. Today's test, among other things, gathered more data on supersonic aerodynamics as well as thermal dynamics.

As it has been on previous flights, Unity's cabin was equipped to gather data vital to the future safety and experience of our astronaut customers. These cabin analysis systems record a host of parameters that are designed to help us further understand the environment inside the cabin during powered flight – temperatures, pressures, humidity, acoustics, thermal response, vibration, acceleration and even radiation.

The carrier aircraft, VMS Eve, was piloted today by Todd Ericson and Kelly Latimer.

Congratulations to everyone at Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company today for achieving another significant step towards commercial service. With VSS Unity, VMS Eve and the pilots safely back on the ground, we will now analyze the post-flight data as we plan and prepare for our next flight.

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Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 46 сек. назад

Only 13 humans have made flights whose highest point was in the mesosphere - 10 of those have since made spaceflights

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 10 мин. назад

ARTICLE: VSS Unity completes third powered flight - achieves Mach 2.47 -

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/07/vss-unity-third-powered-flight-mach-2/ ...

- Includes photos from Brady Kenniston (@TheFavoritist) and Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer) for NSF.

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Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 15 мин. назад

This plot compares the SS1 and SS2 test programs, showing how quickly they reached higher altitudes after first powered flight. Blue for SS1, red for SS2.

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Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 14 мин. назад

The above plot doesn't include the earlier series of SS2 powered flights before the accident. The plot seems consistent with SS2 reaching space on the next flight or the one after that.

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VSS Unity | Third Rocket Powered Flight

Virgin Galactic

Опубликовано: 26 июл. 2018 г.

Virgin Galactic conducted a supersonic test flight today of VSS Unity, a rocket-powered piloted Spaceship that will carry commercial passengers and scientific payloads to space.

Following an initial and a subsequent supersonic test flight earlier this year, this marks the third powered flight and a key step forward in Virgin Galactic's test program.

(2:30)

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http://tass.ru/kosmos/5407325

Пилоты Virgin Galactic впервые разогнали космический корабль до скорости свыше 2 Маха

Космос | 26 июля, 23:15 UTC+3

НЬЮ-ЙОРК, 26 июля. /ТАСС/. Компания Virgin Galactic провела в четверг третье по счету испытание туристического суборбитального космического корабля SpaceShipTwo модели Unity. Двум пилотам впервые удалось достичь скорости, в 2,47 раза превышающей скорость звука и поднять корабль на высоту чуть более 52 км, говорится в заявлении, опубликованномна сайте компании.

По ее данным, полет состоялся в небе над пустыней Мохаве (штат Калифорния). "Пилоты Virgin Galactic этим утром преодолели скорость два Маха, Unity совершила третий испытательный полет с включенным двигателем за менее четырех месяцев. После плавного отделения от самолета- носителя WhiteKnightTwo на высоте 14,2 км пилоты Дейв Маккей и Майк Мазуччи запустили ракетный двигатель (РК), привели корабль в почти вертикальное положение и разогнали его вверх до скорости, в 2,47 раза превышающей скорость звука", - отмечается в заявлении.

"Планировавшийся пуск РК продолжался 42 секунды и впервые поднял пилотов на корабле в стратосферу до порога 52 км", - отметила компания.

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SpaceShipTwo разработан исключительно для туристических целей. Стоимость двухчасового полета, во время которого пассажиры смогут испытать невесомость и увидеть Землю с высоты 100 км, составляет около $250 тыс. Корабль, как ожидается, сможет брать на борт двух пилотов и шесть космических туристов.

В ноябре 2017 года британский миллиардер Ричард Брэнсон, которому принадлежит Virgin Galactic, заявил на бизнес-форуме Synergy Global Forum, что компания продала около 900 билетов желающим стать первыми космическими туристами. Он также не исключил, что стоимость билета может со временем снизиться.

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Из переписки

Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 28 мин. назад

Spaceship Two mesospheric flight's drop time was 1645 UTC Jul 26 and flight time was 14.2 minutes

George Whitesides‏ @gtwhitesides

В ответ @planet4589

Release time was 09:44 PDT
Wheel stop was 09:58 PDT
Free flight duration was 14.2 minutes

Cheers ...

7:55 - 27 июл. 2018 г.

Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 28 мин. назад

And coincidentally, drop altitude was 14.2 km which confused me when I was doing the data entry just now

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И официально

Virgin Galactic‏Подлинная учетная запись @virgingalactic 16 мин. назад

ICYMI, VSS Unity completed her third supersonic, rocket powered test flight yesterday @MojaveAirport. Here are the timings from the flight:

Release time was 09:44 PDT
Wheel stop was 09:58 PDT
Free flight duration was 14.2 minutes

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/07/27/virgin-galactics-rocket-plane-climbs-closer-to-space/

Virgin Galactic's rocket plane climbs closer to space
July 27, 2018 | Stephen Clark

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, built to eventually carry commercial passengers to the edge of space, accomplished another powered test flight into the rarefied upper atmosphere Thursday with two pilots on-board.

The two-man team in the cockpit helmed the SpaceShipTwo vehicle, dubbed VSS Unity, as it dropped from the belly of a jet-powered carrier aircraft and ignited for a 42-second firing of its rear-mounted rocket motor, burning a mixture of rubber-based solid fuel — called HTPB — and nitrous oxide.

VSS Unity separated from its carrier jet — VMS Eve — at 9:44 a.m. PDT (12:44 p.m. EDT; 1644 GMT) Thursday from an altitude of 46,500 feet (14,200 meters) over California's Mojave Desert. Moments later, the craft lit its rocket motor as the pilots pulled the vehicle into a near-vertical climb.

After the rocket burned out, VSS Unity coasted to a peak altitude of 170,800 feet (32.3 miles; 52 kilometers), the highest any SpaceShipTwo test flight has reached, and around four times the cruising altitude of a commercial airliner.

Pilots Dave Mackay and Mike "Sooch" Masucci were at the controls of VSS Unity.

"That's a million-dollar view out the window, Dave," Masucci said as the vehicle soared at the edge of the atmosphere.

The pilots activated the rocket plane's feathering system, raising its twin tail booms to stabilize the craft's orientation for descent, then reconfigured VSS Unity to glide toward a landing at Mojave Air and Space Port in California at 9:58 a.m. PDT (12:58 p.m. EDT; 1658 GMT) to conclude the 14-minute test flight.

VSS Unity achieved a top speed of Mach 2.47 on Thursday's flight, according to Virgin Galactic.

"The view from 170,000 feet, dark sky, blue glow, it was just totally amazing," Masucci, a former U-2 pilot, said in remarks after Thursday's flight. "Can't wait to get passengers up there and show them that as well."

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Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane glides to a landing at Mojave Air and Space Port, California. Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News

"It was a thrill from start to finish," Mackay said in a statement. "Unity's rocket motor performed magnificently again and Sooch pulled off a smooth landing. This was a new altitude record for both of us in the cockpit, not to mention our mannequin in the back, and the views of Earth from the black sky were magnificent."

SpaceShipTwo is designed to carry six passengers, along with two pilots, close to the boundary of space. Commercial flights of the vehicle are expected to fly to an altitude of at least 50 miles (80 kilometers). The U.S. Air Force and NASA awarded astronaut wings to pilots of the X-15 rocket plane who traveled to that altitude, but the Kármán line — the internationally-recognized boundary of space — lies at the 62-mile (100-kilometer) mark.

Future SpaceShipTwo test flights will feature longer rocket burns to climb to higher altitudes. A full-duration burn mirroring a commercial SpaceShipTwo flight is expected to last around 60 seconds.

Thursday's flight was the third powered mission by VSS Unity, which conducted two previous rocket-powered flights April 5 and May 29. The latest test flight included a rocket burn that lasted 11 seconds longer than the previous mission in May, which reached a maximum altitude of around 114,500 feet (34.9 kilometers).


Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo glides to a runway landing Thursday at Mojave Air and Space Port, California. Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News

Here is a list of the VSS Unity test flights to date:

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• April 5: Apogee of 84,271 feet (25.7 kilometers); Top speed of Mach 1.87
• May 29: Apogee of 114,500 feet (34.3 kilometers); Top speed of Mach 1.9
• July 26: Apogee of 170,800 feet (52 kilometers); Top speed of Mach 2.47
  

Virgin Galactic said Thursday's test flight gathered data on SpaceShipTwo's supersonic aerodynamics and thermal dynamics. Sensors inside the passenger cabin also recorded information on the environment future commercial riders will experience, such as temperature, pressures, humidity, acoustics, thermal response, vibration, acceleration and radiation, the company said in a statement.

Founded by billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, the company did not provided an updated timeframe on when SpaceShipTwo can begin commercial service, but several more test flights are expected before Virgin Galactic achieves that milestone. Operational flights will be based at the Spaceport America facility in New Mexico.

A Virgin subsidiary named The SpaceShip company is building additional SpaceShipTwo vehicles to allow for a higher flight rate once commercial service begins.

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