{"id":19512,"date":"2016-01-04T19:07:25","date_gmt":"2016-01-04T11:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/stephen-hawking-will-help-virgin-galactic-roll-out-second-spaceshiptwo-on-feb-19\/"},"modified":"2016-01-04T19:07:25","modified_gmt":"2016-01-04T11:07:25","slug":"stephen-hawking-will-help-virgin-galactic-roll-out-second-spaceshiptwo-on-feb-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/stephen-hawking-will-help-virgin-galactic-roll-out-second-spaceshiptwo-on-feb-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Hawking will help Virgin Galactic roll out second SpaceShipTwo on Feb. 19"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_220245\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-220245\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-220245\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160103-hawking-630x499.jpg\" alt=\"Stephen Hawking\" width=\"630\" height=\"499\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160103-hawking-630x499.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160103-hawking-768x609.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160103-hawking.jpg 1051w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-220245\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">British physicist Stephen Hawking addresses Virgin Galactic customers at Cambridge University. (Credit: Richard Branson via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>More than a year after the first SpaceShipTwo rocket plane was destroyed in a fatal test flight, Virgin Galactic says the second SpaceShipTwo is ready for its California rollout on Feb. 19 \u2013&nbsp;and famed British physicist Stephen Hawking is&nbsp;invited.<\/p>\n<p>Scores of other VIPs, officials and journalists are invited&nbsp;as well: The date&nbsp;for the rollout was disseminated in advisories&nbsp;that went out this afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>Next month\u2019s&nbsp;event, like the debut of the first SpaceShipTwo in 2009, will unfold at Mojave Air and Space Port in California. It should mark a significant step in Virgin Galactic\u2019s harder-than-expected effort to carry tourists as well as researchers and their payloads on suborbital trips to the edge of outer space.<\/p>\n<p>Virgin Galactic\u2019s billionaire founder, Richard Branson, says he has asked Hawking to be on hand if the 73-year-old British physicist is well enough to travel. That\u2019s not a sure thing: Hawking is&nbsp;coping with a neurogenerative disease that has left him almost completely paralyzed, and he occasionally suffers from pneumonia.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with The Independent, a British newspaper, Branson said Hawking would \u201cname the new spaceship.\u201d The first SpaceShipTwo plane was named the VSS Enterprise (\u201cVSS\u201d stands for Virgin Spaceship). SpaceShipTwo\u2019s WhiteKnightTwo&nbsp;mothership&nbsp;is called the VMS Eve, in honor of Eve Branson, the Virgin founder\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Professor Stephen Hawking and Virgin Galactic\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/s0wmSJJoTJw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Nine years&nbsp;ago, Hawking took a zero-gravity flight on a specially equipped Boeing 727 jet, as a test run for a future Virgin Galactic flight. That flight produced&nbsp;no ill effects. \u201cIt was amazing,\u201d he said afterward.<\/p>\n<p>Even before that zero-G flight, Richard Branson said he was willing to grant Hawking\u2019s wish to go into space as long as his doctors gave the OK.&nbsp;\u201cI found myself with what I understand is the only free ticket for a Virgin Galactic spaceflight that Richard has ever handed out,\u201d Hawking recalled&nbsp;during a recent meeting with Virgin Galactic customers at Cambridge University. \u201cAnd knowing Richard a little, I can believe that\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If SpaceShipTwo\u2019s development had proceeded&nbsp;as originally planned, Hawking might have had his free flight by now. But Virgin Galactic suffered a catastrophic setback in October 2014 when the first SpaceShipTwo broke up during a test flight. Co-pilot Michael Alsbury was killed in a 50,000-foot fall. Pilot Pete Siebold suffered serious injuries but survived, thanks to his automatic parachute deployment system.<\/p>\n<p>A federal investigation traced the tragedy\u2019s cause to a variety of shortcomings, including Alsbury\u2019s premature unlocking of the rocket plane\u2019s feathered-wing braking system. Investigators said Alsbury pulled the unlocking lever while SpaceShipOne\u2019s rocket was still in the midst of its rocket-powered ascent. The resulting aerodynamic forces tripped the wing mechanism and pulled the plane apart.<\/p>\n<p>The report from the National Transportation Safety Board also cited lapses in training as well as inadequate safeguards&nbsp;in the wing-feathering system.&nbsp;Virgin Galactic says its teams are addressing those problems as they ramp up for testing the second SpaceShipTwo.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceShipTwo Tail No. 2 was under construction even before the first model broke up, but after the accident, the safety lever system was redesigned to address the investigators\u2019 concerns, Virgin Galactic says.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_220387\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-220387\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-220387\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160104-ss2-630x501.jpg\" alt=\"SpaceShipTwo\" width=\"630\" height=\"501\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160104-ss2-630x501.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160104-ss2-768x610.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160104-ss2-1240x985.jpg 1240w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160104-ss2.jpg 1359w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-220387\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The first SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, known as VSS Enterprise, prepares to light up its rocket engine during a test flight in January 2014. Months later, the craft was destroyed during a similar test. (Virgin Galactic photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>During next month\u2019s ceremonies, the rocket plane will be rolled out from&nbsp;Virgin Galactic\u2019s Final Assembly, Integration and Test Hangar, or FAITH, for a glitzy photo op.<\/p>\n<p>The rollout serves as a traditional prelude to what\u2019s expected to be months of testing.&nbsp;The first tests will be performed on the ground. Then the plane will be carried up into the air, tucked beneath its WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane. After rounds of captive-carry tests, SpaceShipTwo will go through an increasingly ambitious series of free-flying glides and rocket-powered flights.<\/p>\n<p>Virgin Galactic says commercial operations will begin only after the plane has passed tests at outer-space altitudes.&nbsp;About 700 customers have signed up for suborbital spaceflights, paying as much as $250,000 per seat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British physicist Stephen Hawking addresses Virgin Galactic customers at Cambridge University. (Credit: Richard Branson via YouTube) More than a year after the first SpaceShipTwo rocket plane was destroyed in a fatal test flight, Virgin Galactic says the second SpaceShipTwo is ready for its California rollout on Feb. 19 \u2013&nbsp;and famed British physicist Stephen Hawking is&nbsp;invited. [&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":[291,1693,1973,3755,492],"class_list":["post-19512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-commercial-space","tag-richard-branson","tag-spaceshiptwo","tag-stephen-hawking","tag-virgin-galactic"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19512"}],"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=19512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}