'Space feels tantalisingly close now': Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic completes first rocket-powered flight with supersonic Unity spaceplane
- Unity took off at 8:02 a.m. from Mojave Air and Space Port what Virgin Galactic called a ‘milestone test flight’
- After separating from Eve mothership, it fired up its own rocket motor and went supersonic, hitting Mach 1.87
- Test marked Unity craft's first supersonic, rocket-powered flight, and came four years after firm's fatal crash
- Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson tweeted after the test that space 'feels tantalisingly close now'
Virgin Galactic’s Unity spaceplane has completed its first rocket-powered flight, breaking the sound barrier in a successful supersonic test flight today nearly four years after the firm’s fatal crash in the Mojave Desert.
SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity was put through two years of ground and atmospheric tests ahead of its first powered flight.
The craft took off at 8:02 a.m. from the Mojave Air and Space Port in what Richard Branson’s aerospace company is calling a ‘milestone test flight.’
Unity flew to an altitude of roughly 46,500 feet carried by the Eve WhiteKnightTwo ‘mothership,’ before separating to fire up its own rocket motor and accelerate to over 1,400 miles per hour (Mach 1.87).
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Virgin Galactic’s Unity spaceplane has completed its first rocket-powered flight, breaking the sound barrier in a successful supersonic test flight today nearly four years after the firm’s fatal crash in the Mojave Desert. The craft took off at 8:02 a.m. from the Mojave Air and Space Port
The test puts the firm another step closer to Branson’s goals of space tourism. Afterward, the billionaire tweeted that Virgin Galactic is 'back on track.'
‘Successful powered flight, Mach 1.6,' Branson said on Twitter, before the firm later revealed it had hit an even greater speed. 'Data review to come, then on to the next flight. Space feels tantalisingly close now.’
Today’s test marked the first time Virgin Galactic has conducted a powered flight since the tragic crash of its original spaceplane in 2014, which killed one pilot and seriously injured another.
While Unity has flown with the mothership before, and has been released in glide tests, this is the first time it’s fired up its rocket to fly on its own.
The firm praised pilots Mike Masucci and Nicola Pecile for the ‘great milestone test flight.’
‘VSS Unity completed her first supersonic, rocket-powered flight this morning in Mojave, California,’ Virgin Galactic tweeted after the successful test. ‘Another great test flight, another step closer to being NMReady.’
Unity flew to an altitude of roughly 46,500 feet carried by the Eve WhiteKnightTwo ‘mothership’ (pictured) before separating to fire up its own rocket motor and accelerate over 1,400 miles per hour (Mach 1.87)
In the test flight, Unity remained ‘mated’ with the Eve mothership until it reached about 46,500 feet, over the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
There, aimed back toward Mojave, Eve executed a ‘clean release,’ allowing Unity to fire up its rocket motor seconds later.
The pilots then aimed the spaceship upward into an 80 degree climb, and accelerated to Mach 1.87, according to Virgin Galactic.
Unity achieved 30 seconds of rocket burn, then coasted to about 84,271 feet on rocket shutdown before heading back down.
The test puts the firm another step closer to Branson’s goals of space tourism. Afterward, the billionaire tweeted that Virgin Galactic is 'back on track'
The firm praised pilots Mike Masucci and Nicola Pecile for the ‘great milestone test flight.’ Unity achieved 30 seconds of rocket burn, then coasted to about 84,271 feet on rocket shutdown before heading back down
HOW DOES RICHARD BRANSON'S VIRGIN GALACTIC CONDUCT ITS SPACE FLIGHTS?
Unlike other commercial spaceflight companies, such as Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic initiates its flights without using a traditional rocket launch.
Instead, the firm launches its passenger-laden SpaceShipTwo and other craft from a carrier plane, dubbed WhiteKnightTwo.
WhiteKnightTwo is a custom-built, four-engine, dual-fuselage jet aircraft, designed to carry SpaceShipTwo up to an altitude of around 50,000 feet (15,240 metres).
The first WhiteKnightTwo, VMS Eve - which Virgin Galactic has used on all of its test flights - was rolled-out in 2008 and has a high-altitude, heavy payload capacity.
Unlike other commercial spaceflight companies, such as Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic initiates its flights without using a traditional rocket launch. Instead, the firm launches its passenger-laden SpaceShipTwo and other craft from a carrier plane, dubbed WhiteKnightTwo. Once SpaceShipTwo has propelled itself into space its engines shut off for a period of weightlessness before returning home
Once it reaches 50,000 feet (15,240 metres) the carrier plane releases SpaceShipTwo, a reusable, winged spacecraft designed to carry six passengers and two pilots into space.
Virgin Galactic has named its first SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity - the craft that the company has used in all of its test flights - though the firm is expected to build more in future.
Once released from WhiteKnightTwo, SpaceShipTwo's rocket motor engages 'within seconds', according to Virgin Galactic.
The craft will then fly approximately three and a half times the speed of sound (2,600mph/4,300kph) into suborbital space, reaching up to 360,890ft (110,000 metres) above the Earth's surface.
WhiteKnightTwo (artist's impression) is a custom-built, four-engine, dual-fuselage jet aircraft, designed to carry SpaceShipTwo up to an altitude of around 50,000 feet (15,240 metres)
This altitude is defined as beyond the edge of outer space by Nasa.
After the rocket motor has fired for around a minute, the pilots will shut it down, and passengers can then take off their seatbelts to experience weightlessness for several minutes.
The pilots will manoeuvre the spaceship to give the best possible views of Earth and space while raising the vehicle's wings to its 'feathered' re-entry configuration, which decelerates the craft and stabilises its descent.
As gravity pulls the spaceship back towards the Earth's upper atmosphere, astronauts will return to their seats ready to return to our planet.
At around 50,000 feet (15,240 metres), after re-entry, the pilot will return the spaceship's wings to their normal configuration, ready to glide back to Earth for a smooth runway landing.
Once it reaches 50,000 feet (15,240 metres) the carrier plane releases SpaceShipTwo, a reusable, winged spacecraft designed to carry six passengers and two pilots into space. Virgin Galactic has named its first SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity (pictured) - the craft that the company has used in all of its test flights - though the firm is expected to produce more in future
The pilots also tested the spaceplane’s ‘feather’ configuration, in which the tail booms are raised to a 60 degree angle to the fuselage.
‘This unique design feature, which is key to a reliable and repeatable re-entry capability for a winged vehicle, incorporates the additional safety mechanisms adopted after the 2014 VSS Enterprise test flight accident,’ according to Virgin Galactic.
The feathers were lowered again around 50,000 feet, allowing the craft to glide down for a runway landing back at Mojave.
Today’s test marked the first time Virgin Galactic has conducted a powered flight since the tragic crash of its original spaceplane in 2014, which killed one pilot and seriously injured another. While Unity has flown with the mothership before, and has been released in glide tests, this is the first time it’s fired up its rocket to fly on its own
The latest success comes just months after the firm’s founder claimed VSS Unity would be bringing people to suborbital space in test flights by this spring.
At the time, Branson said this could happen as soon as April.
More than 700 affluent customers to date, including celebrities Brad Pitt and Katy Perry, have reserved a $250,000 (£200,000) seat on one of Virgin's space trips, with commercial flights planned for the end of the year.
After the fatal SpaceShipTwo crash in October 2014, it took two years for Virgin Galactic to regain FAA approval to fly the design again.
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