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Virgin Galactic’s space programme moves forward as SpaceShipTwo carries out first successful glide test
Virgin Galactic’s space tourism project has taken a step forward when its new SpaceShipTwo carried out a successful first glide flight in the Mojave desert.
VSS Unity separated from its parent carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo and completed the free flight in 10 minutes, SpaceNews reported.
This is the second SpaceShipTwo. The first, which was named VSS Enterprise, crashed in October 2014 killing Michael Alsbury, the co-pilot, and injuring the pilot, Peter Siebold.
Saturday’s flight was the latest stage in Sir Richard Branson’s ambitious plans to make space travel available for tourists.
The craft can carry six passengers at a time and a ticket to ride will cost $250,000 (£196,000). More than 700 people are reported to have signed up for a trip.
Virgin Galactic, the space arm of Sir Richard’s corporate empire, had planned to carry out the new craft’s first glide flight at the beginning of last month.
However strong winds meant that SpaceShipTwo had to remain attached to its parent craft. A second attempt was abandoned because of technical issues.
This was the first in a series of glide flights to test the craft’s aerodynamic performance. Once this part of the programme has been completed successfully, the project will move on to powered flights.
An inquiry into the October 2014 disaster by the US he National Transportation Safety Body concluded the crash was caused by a catastrophic structural failure triggered when the co-pilot unlocked the craft's braking system early.