Tag: SpaceShipTwo
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SpaceShipTwo rocket plane pushes the envelope in third supersonic test flight
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, VSS Unity, fires up its hybrid rocket motor during a supersonic test flight. (MarsScientific.com and Trumbull Studios via Virgin Galactic) Virgin Galactic sent its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, VSS Unity, to its highest-ever altitude today during its third powered test flight — setting the stage for a full-powered push across the boundary…
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Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo fires up rocket for another step toward spaceflight
Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity space plane fires up its hybrid rocket motor during a test flight. (MarsScientific.com and Trumbull Studios) Virgin Galactic sent its VSS Unity space plane skyward for a second supersonic rocket-powered test flight today, bringing the company one step closer toward reaching the space frontier. “It was great to see our beautiful spaceship…
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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)…
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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. This video shows the SpaceShipTwo vehicle, named VSS Unity, dropping from the belly of a carrier jet at 9:01…
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SpaceShipTwo goes supersonic in first powered flight since fatal breakup in 2014
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, christened VSS Unity, fires up its hybrid rocket motor for the first time. (Mars Scientific / Trumbull Studios Photo) Virgin Galactic’s second SpaceShipTwo rocket plane flew a smooth, supersonic test flight today during its first rocket-powered outing since the first SpaceShipTwo broke up three and a half years ago. The…
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Virgin Galactic completes first rocket-powered test flight since 2014
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo vehicle fires its hybrid rocket motor on Thursday. Credit: MarsScientific.com & Trumbull Studios / Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic’s second piloted suborbital spaceship made its first rocket-powered test flight Thursday, three-and-a-half years after the loss of an earlier model in an accident that killed one test pilot and injured another. Designed to ferry…
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Virgin Galactic strikes a deal to send Italian scientist on suborbital space trip in 2019
Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity glides through a test flight. (Virgin Galactic Photo) News Brief: Virgin Galactic and the Italian Space Agency say they’ve signed a letter of intent to send an Italian payload specialist and scientific experiments on a suborbital space mission in 2019. The deal was announced today during the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference…
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Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo plane glides through a ‘dry run’ for blastoff
Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity glides through a test flight. (Virgin Galactic Photo) Virgin Galactic said its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane today executed a successful gliding flight test that was “essentially a dry run for rocket-powered flights.” “Our major first today though was that with the exception of the rocket motor fuel grain … we flew with…
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Richard Branson says SpaceShipTwo is set to blast off into space by year’s end
Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity glides through the skies over California’s Mojave Desert. (Virgin Galactic Photo) Virgin Galactic’s billionaire founder, Richard Branson, has been toning down his predictions about the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane’s future trips to space. Until now. During a trip to Hong Kong to inaugurate a new Virgin Australia route from Melbourne, Branson said…
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SpaceShipTwo’s test flight makes a splash
A long contrail extends behind Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity rocket plane as it releases about 1,000 pounds of water from a ballast tank. (Virgin Galactic Photo) Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane took another step toward lighting up its engine in flight today, by simulating the shift in its weight with water instead of rocket fuel.…