Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. Emerging Tech
  4. News

Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo makes a successful debut solo flight

By
Add as a preferred source on Google

VSS Unity, the second SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, just passed a significant milestone. It went for a casual stroll in the sky on Saturday, though this was just a test glide, as the rockets remained offline. You might recall the first SpaceShipTwo suffered an “in-flight anomaly” during a rocket-powered test on Halloween of 2014.

The ship’s carrier airplane WhiteKnightTwo hauled VSS Unity to a very high altitude and then set it free. The Unity then glided back to the Mojave Air and Space Port, with test pilot Mark Stucky and Virgin Galactic’s chief pilot Dave Mackay at the helm. The total travel time was a brisk 10 minutes, MSN reported. The Virgin mogul Richard Branson was naturally on hand to view the proceedings.

Recommended Videos

According to GeekWire, the purpose of the flight was to test out the plane’s basic performance and handling, and the successful test was another ticked checkbox towards the eventual dream/goal of suborbital flights. More test glides are planned, and they will eventually move onto the real deal: rocket-powered flights. GW adds it will really get serious with eventual test runs “that cross the boundary of outer space (50 miles, according to U.S. Air Force standards; 62 miles, according to international standards).”

Co-pilot Mike Alsbury was killed in the October 2014 accident, while pilot Pete Siebold suffered serious injuries. An investigation determined pilot error “as well as a number of shortcomings in design and training,” which have been addressed.

If you’re interested in taking a trip on board one of these super shuttles once they go online, you better bring your checkbook. About 700 people are already signed up to do so, ponying up as much as a quarter of a million dollars each for a seat on board what likely be the ride of their lives. GW also says that the “shift to commercial operations at New Mexico’s Spaceport America depends on how the test program goes, but Branson has said he intends to be on the first passenger flight.” No surprise there.

Brinke Guthrie
Brinke Guthrie
Former Contributor
Brinke’s favorite toys include his Samsung Galaxy Tab S, Toshiba Chromebook 2, Motorola Moto G4, and two Kindles. A…
Topics
Artemis II crew preps for lunar orbit – and Orion’s cosmic commode
'It's the one place we can go during the mission where we can actually feel like we’re alone.'
The Orion spacecraft's toilet.

Four astronauts are about to embark on a historic voyage that will take them around the moon in a spacecraft about the size of a large camper van.

During the Artemis II mission, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen, will spend 10 days inside the Orion capsule after being blasted to space by the SLS rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, hopefully next week.

Read more
It’s here! NASA reveals full livestream schedule for crewed moon mission
The coverage starts on Friday.
NASA's SLS lunar rocket on the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center, with the moon shining brightly in the background.

The excitement is building with NASA now just a few days away from sending four astronauts on a voyage around the moon.

On Wednesday, the space agency shared its schedule for coverage of the final buildup and main event, including a Q&A with the astronauts this Friday, blast off on Wednesday, April 1, and regular updates as the crew make their way to the moon.

Read more
Peek inside NASA’s Mars habitat where humans train for life on the red planet
Four volunteers are staying in isolation for more than a year.
A scene inside NASA's Mars simulation habitat.

NASA has offered a sneak peek inside its Mars simulation habitat where four volunteers have now spent 150 days isolated from the outside world.

By living within the confines of the 1,700-square-foot Mars Dune Alpha habitat at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Ross Elder, Ellen Ellis, Matthew Montgomery, and James Spicer are helping NASA to better prepare for long-duration missions that will take humans into deep space.

Read more