Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Virgin Galactic Completes Second Spaceship Test Flight

Mojave-based Virgin Galactic, the commercial, tourism-focused spaceship company led by Sir Richard Branson, said on tuesday that it has completed its second, successful, rocket-powered test flight. According to Virgin Galactic, the test flight was focused on understanding the supersonic handling characteristics of its VSS Unity spaceship, as it added passenger seats and related equipment that are closer to the ultimate commercial configuration of the craft. Virgin Galactic said the VSS Unity rocket motor burned for the planned 31 seconds and propelled Unity to a speed of Mach 1.9 and an altitude of 114,500 ft. Virgin released a video of the test flight on Tuesday. The company intends to take paying customers up to space in the VSS Unity.