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From: Kent Castle <kent.d.castle@hotmail.com>
Date: April 7, 2018 at 3:33:42 PM CDT
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Subject: Fw: VSS Unity's first powered test flight
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Sent: Saturday, April 7, 2018 10:20 AM
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Subject: FW: VSS Unity's first powered test flight
Photos: VSS Unity's first powered test flight
These images captured by photographer Gene Blevins show Virgin Galactic's second SpaceShipTwo space plane making its first rocket-powered test flight Thursday over California's Mojave Desert, then gliding back to a runway landing.
The SpaceShipTwo vehicle, named VSS Unity, dropping from the belly of a carrier jet at 9:01 a.m. PDT (12:01 p.m. EDT; 1601 GMT) Thursday over the Mojave Desert in California. With two pilots at the controls, VSS Unity fired its hybrid rocket motor for 30 seconds, reaching an altitude of more than 84,000 feet and a top speed of Mach 1.87, nearly twice the speed of sound.
It was the first rocket-powered flight for VSS Unity, Virgin Galactic's second SpaceShipTwo vehicle, after seven previous glide test flights. The VSS Unity returned to the Mojave Air and Space Port for a runway landing.
VSS Unity replaces VSS Enterprise, a rocket plane destroyed in an October 2014 crash that killed one pilot and injured another.
For details on Thursday's test flight, read our full story.
Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News
Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News
Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News
Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News
Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News
Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News
Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News
Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News
Video: SpaceShipTwo rocket plane soars on supersonic test flight
Virgin Galactic's commercial SpaceShipTwo rocket plane made its highest and fastest flight to date Thursday, moving the company's space tourism ambitions closer to reality more than three years after a fatal accident suspended powered test flights.
© 2018 Spaceflight Now Inc.
Second SpaceShipTwo performs first powered test flight
Virgin Galactic's second SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity, flying in the stratosphere after the powered portion of a test flight April 5. Credit: Virgin Galactic
WASHINGTON — Virgin Galactic's second SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle successfully performed its first powered flight April 5, the first such test flight since a fatal crash nearly three and a half years ago.
The vehicle, named VSS Unity, was released from its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft in the skies about 14,200 meters above Mojave, California, at approximately 12:00 p.m. Eastern time. The vehicle ignited its hybrid rocket motor on what the company said was a "partial duration burn" lasting 30 seconds. The vehicle reached a top speed of Mach 1.87 and altitude of 25,686 meters.
After the end of its powered flight, SpaceShipTwo deployed its feathering system, raising its twin booms to permit a safe reentry before lowering them again for landing. The vehicle glided to a landing at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California a little more than 10 minutes after release.
The flight was the first powered flight for VSS Unity, which the company rolled out more than two years ago. Virgin started a series of glide flights of VSS Unity in December 2016, with the most recent such flight on Jan. 11. Company officials at the time suggested that January glide flight would be the last before the start of powered test flights.
This flight featured a longer burn, and thus higher speed and altitude, than prior powered test flights by the first SpaceShipTwo, VSS Enterprise. In a January 2014 test flight, VSS Enterprise reached a top speed of Mach 1.4 and altitude of more than 21,000 meters.
That flight was the third powered test flight by VSS Enterprise. On the fourth, in October 2014, the vehicle broke apart seconds into the powered phase of flight, killing co-pilot Michael Alsbury and injuring pilot Peter Siebold.
An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board concluded Alsbury had prematurely unlocked SpaceShipTwo's feathering mechanism as it passed through the sound barrier, causing an aerodynamic breakup. The investigation also blamed the vehicle's developer, Scaled Composites, for design elements that contributed to the accident, including its inability to foresee a single-point failure such as a premature unlocking of the feathering mechanism.
The Spaceship Company, originally a joint venture between Virgin and Scaled Composites but now wholly owned by Virgin, had already been building a second SpaceShipTwo at the time of the accident. Virgin leadership, including Sir Richard Branson, decided to continue development of that vehicle, which the company named VSS Unity at its February 2016 rollout. The company also built the rocket motor, using nitrous oxide and HTPB propellants.
This powered test flight is the first in a series of such flights planned by the company to expand the vehicle's performance envelope and to prepare for commercial flights carrying tourists and research payloads. The company has not stated how many such powered tests it expects to fly before the vehicle enters commercial service.
"We're looking forward to having a full 2018 with powered test flights," George Whitesides, chief executive of Virgin Galactic, said at a suborbital research conference in December. "We're going to take our time to do it right."
In addition to the test program, Virgin announced a non-binding agreement in October with the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia whereby the PIF would invest $1 billion into Virgin's space companies, which also include small launch vehicle developer Virgin Orbit.
Virgin has not provided an update on the status of that investment. However, the company said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al-Saud, whose duties include serving as chairman of PIF, visited the facilities of Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company in Mojave last weekend, while the company was preparing for what it only described as an "upcoming" SpaceShipTwo flight test. Photos of the event show the logo for the Saudi Arabian government's "Vision 2030" initiative on the side of WhiteKnightTwo.
Virgin Galactic is "back on track," Branson tweeted shortly after the successful test flight. "Data review to come, then on to the next flight. Space feels tantalizingly close now."
© 2018 SpaceNews, Inc. All rights reserved.
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