14 DAY TRIAL // The private company Virgin Galactic, which has recently taken huge strides towards becoming the first entity to provide affordable access to suborbital altitudes, has another reason to be proud. Yesterday, March 22, it conducted the first of a series of test flights, aimed at assessing the performances of the SpaceShipTwo/WhiteKnightTwo (SS2/WK2) flight system. The company plans to use these aircrafts to provide flights to the fringes of outer space for paying customers, Space reports. The new tests are another step in the right direction, and they follow shortly after the crafts were first unveiled.
The airplanes took off from an airstrip at the Mojave Air and Space Port, located in California. The weather was just right for a test flight, with a clear atmosphere and only a slight breeze. The craft remained airborne for more than three hours, during which time a variety of systems aboard both the machines were tested. This system is to set the foundation for a larger fleet of spaceliners, says British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, for whom the aircrafts were constructed by Mojave, California-based Scale Composites.
The entire delivery system has a fairly simple way of operating. The WK2 airplane takes off like a regular plane, carrying the SS2 attached to it. Once it reaches its maximum altitude, the SS2 separates, and then ignites its own rocket motors, accelerating strongly until it reaches the very fringes of outer space. The aircraft is incapable of reaching orbit, but it can spend a few minutes in microgravity, providing its passengers with a unique opportunity to experience the same emotions as astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are feeling. The SS2 can carry up to six passengers and two crew members during a single flight, and it is capable of landing on its own on an airstrip.
“This is a momentous day for the Scaled and Virgin Teams. The captive carry flight signifies the start of what we believe will be extremely exciting and successful spaceship flight test program,” said yesterday in a statement Burt Rutan, who is the SpaceShipTwo designer, a famed aerospace designer, and also the founder of Scaled Composites. The operating SS2 that was tested yesterday is being named the Virgin Space Ship (VSS) Enterprise. The carrier aircraft has been named Eve, after Branson's mother.