{"id":18934,"date":"2017-06-02T01:41:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-01T17:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spaceshiptwos-test-flight-makes-a-splash\/"},"modified":"2017-06-02T01:41:00","modified_gmt":"2017-06-01T17:41:00","slug":"spaceshiptwos-test-flight-makes-a-splash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spaceshiptwos-test-flight-makes-a-splash\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceShipTwo\u2019s test flight makes a splash"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_336453\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-336453\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-336453\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/170601-spaceshiptwo-630x347.jpg\" alt=\"Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity\" width=\"630\" height=\"347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/170601-spaceshiptwo-630x347.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/170601-spaceshiptwo-768x422.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/170601-spaceshiptwo.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-336453\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A long contrail extends behind Virgin Galactic\u2019s VSS Unity rocket plane as it releases about 1,000 pounds of water from a ballast tank. (Virgin Galactic Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Virgin Galactic\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s test flight involved sending up&nbsp;the plane, christened VSS Unity, from California\u2019s Mojave Air and Space Port attached to&nbsp;its twin-fuselage White Knight carrier airplane.<\/p>\n<p>Once the paired aircraft reached the proper altitude, White Knight Two released VSS Unity for an unpowered, gliding descent back to base. That\u2019s been done four times before since last December,&nbsp;but this time, there was an added twist: Before takeoff, about 1,000 pounds of water were loaded into a ballast tank in the back of Unity\u2019s fuselage.<\/p>\n<p>The water, a stand-in for the fuel that will be consumed in Unity\u2019s hybrid rocket engine, was dumped during the glide.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat enabled us to explore the flight conditions we will experience during rocket-powered flights,\u201d Virgin Galactic said in today\u2019s post-flight update. \u201cBy jettisoning the water ballast on descent, we were also able to confirm handling characteristics as the vehicle\u2019s center of gravity moved forward. Unity completed the flight with a safe and smooth landing in its lighter-weight configuration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=870318833441091584&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2017%2Fspaceshiptwo-makes-splash-test-flight%2F&amp;sessionId=026d3b983b53e238bff8f7dc3fcfffa9524ab9ec&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"870318833441091584\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i178280259489666237=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Today #SpaceShipTwo is loaded with water ballast to shift the center of gravity rearward to replicate rocket-powered flight! pic.twitter.com\/rVmq0F1BPz<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) June 1, 2017<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Unity was piloted by Virgin Galactic\u2019s David Mackay and&nbsp;CJ Sturckow. White Knight Two had&nbsp;Kelly Latimer and Michael Masucci at the controls, with Colin Bennett serving as flight test engineer.<\/p>\n<p>Virgin Galactic said Unity&nbsp;is moving \u201ctowards the end of the initial glide test portion of the program\u201d and heading toward its first rocket-powered tests. Eventually, test pilots will take the craft to outer-space heights, blazing a trail for suborbital space tourism.<\/p>\n<p>About 700 customers have already paid as much as $250,000 for a seat on SpaceShipTwo, which is expected to go into commercial service within a year or two at Spaceport America in New Mexico. The precise timing depends on how the test program turns out. Virgin Galactic\u2019s billionaire founder, Richard Branson, is likely to be among the first fliers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A long contrail extends behind Virgin Galactic\u2019s VSS Unity rocket plane as it releases about 1,000 pounds of water from a ballast tank. (Virgin Galactic Photo) Virgin Galactic\u2019s 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. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[291,1973,492,1600],"class_list":["post-18934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-commercial-space","tag-spaceshiptwo","tag-virgin-galactic","tag-vss-unity"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18934"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18934\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}