Tag: Virgin Galactic
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Branson vows to press ahead, NTSB investigation begins
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS “SPACE PLACE” & USED WITH PERMISSION Updated at 12:10 AM EDT, 11/02/14: Adding NTSB news conference; identity of surviving pilot Virgin Galactic’s George Whiteside and Richard Branson speak with the news media. Image: Virgin Galactic. Richard Branson, the charismatic leader of Virgin Galactic and a driving force in the push to commercialize…
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SpaceShipTwo crash inquiry could take a year
Acting chairman of the NTSB Christopher Hart surveys the SpaceShipTwo crash site with Virgin Galactic pilot Todd Ericson. Credit: NTSB Investigators have plenty of evidence to sift through as they look into the cause of Friday’s fatal crash of a Virgin Galactic rocket plane, but the acting chair of the National Transportation Safety Board said…
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VIDEO: NTSB news conference on start of SpaceShipTwo investigation
The NTSB’s Acting Chairman Christopher Hart holds a news conference Saturday evening to discuss the start of the investigation into the loss of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane over the Mojave Desert.
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VIDEO: First NTSB briefing on Virgin Galactic accident
Acting NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart briefs the news media on Saturday, soon after arriving at the Mojave Air & Space Port to begin an investigation into the loss of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo.
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SpaceShipTwo crashes in desert, one pilot dead, one seriously injured
SpaceShipTwo (Credit: Virgin Galactic) It’s a rough week in the spaceflight world. Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo has crashed during a test flight over the Mojave Desert in southern California. The company announced through its Twitter feed that SpaceShipTwo had “suffered a serious anomaly.” UPDATE:Virgin Galactic’s partner Scaled Composites conducted a powered test flight of #SpaceShipTwo earlier today.…
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Pilot dies in crash of Virgin Galactic rocket plane
Updated with more details at 7:30 p.m. PDT (10:30 p.m. EDT; 0230 GMT) Spaceship Two and its mothership WhiteKnightTwo earlier today. Photo: Scaled Composites / Jason DiVenere. Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane crashed during a powered test flight over California’s Mojave Desert on Friday, leaving one pilot dead and another seriously injured. One of the…
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Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo fails during test flight
One pilot has died and another seriously injured during a test flight failure of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo on Friday. The much-delayed suborbital space tourism vehicle suffered a catastrophic failure that resulted in the spaceplane breaking up and crashing to the ground in pieces. The test used a new fuel mixture formulation for the first time…
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British government reveal vision for the UK’s first spaceport
The British government continued its steady path towards recovering its space ambitions by revealing visions of what would become the first spaceport on the UK mainland. As expected, the base would be targeted mainly towards the suborbital space tourism market and possibly commercial satellite launches – likely to polar orbit destinations. UK Spaceport: The United…
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SpaceShipTwo Glides Toward December Debut
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2), slated to become the world’s first commercial manned spacecraft, is undergoing rigorous testing at California’s Mojave Air and Space Port. Christened “VSS Enterprise”, the first in Virgin Galactic’s planned fleet of suborbital spaceplanes is scheduled to complete its first space flight in December, leading to an eventual debut with commercial passengers.…
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From Shuttle to SS2 – Sturckow joins Virgin Galactic
Space Shuttle veteran Frederick “CJ” Sturckow has joined Virgin Galactic’s commercial flight team. The retired U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) Colonel has been joined by retired U.S. Air Force (USAF) Lieutenant Colonel Michael “Sooch” Masucci as additional pilots to fly the company’s SpaceShipTwo. SS2 Pilots: Virgin Galactic are ramping up their operations, with one powered test…