Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo (SS2) has completed its first testflight, lasting just over 10 minutes.
The test of the world's first commercial spaceliner, owned by serial entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi's aabar Investments PJC. The test itself was flown by teams from Scaled Composites which built SS2 and Virgin Galactic, putting the space cruiser into the final phase of vehicle testing before it enters commercial service from its base in Spaceport America in New Mexico.
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SS2 lights up the sky Image:MarsScientific.com & Clay Centre Observatory |
Branson, who founded Virgin Galactic, witnessed the maiden flight and commented: "Today's supersonic success opens the way for a rapid expansion of the spaceship's powered flight envelope, with a very realistic goal of full space flight by the year's end. We saw history in the making today and I couldn't be more proud of everyone involved."
The Virgin Galactic space-ready aircraft, SS2, was mated to WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) - a specially designed, twin fuselage aircraft which is the largest all carbon-fibre plane ever built.
During the test flight, SS2 was catapaulted to a height of 55,000 feet using its rocket motor, which burned for the planned 16 seconds, and reached a supersonic speed of Mach 1.2.
Virgin Galactic has now added two pilots to its payroll, including Rick Sturckow, a former NASA astronaut. But for anyone thinking of booking a spaceflight, they'd better start saving now - the per-person cost of a flight will be $200,000.
Meanwhile, tests are continuing on Boeing's potential entrant into the supersonic world. NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio is currently researching ways of reducing noise from the super-sleek, super-fast airliner in the hope of being able to make commercial supersonic flights over land a possibility again.
With the demise of Concorde, which was only allowed to flew supersonic over water, plans for a successor have been slow to develop. The Boeing's engines are designed to sit on top of the aircraft to prevent engine noise travelling downwards and its V-tail channels the sonic boom backwards, with the aim of keeping the boom 'airborne' for longer, giving it more chance of dissipating before it reaches the ground.