Virgin Galactic Reaches Space

longknife

Diamond Member
Sep 21, 2012
42,221
13,088
2,250
Sin City


Not quite high enough to go into orbit but a huge step toward being able to carry passengers into space.

VIRGIN-TEST-FLIGHT-9.jpg


The air-dropped rocket plane took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in California under a four-engine carrier jet shortly after 7 a.m. PST (10 a.m. EST; 1500 GMT) Thursday and climbed to an altitude of 43,000 feet (13,100 meters). Piloted by Mark “Forger” Stucky and Rick “C.J.” Sturckow, the SpaceShipTwo vehicle released from its mothership and fired a hybrid rocket motor nearly 60 seconds to accelerate to Mach 2.9 — nearly three times the speed of sound — and soar to an altitude of 51 miles.

It was the first time Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, intended to carry space tourists on brief hops to the edge of space, has flown above the 50-mile mark, a threshold recognized by the U.S. Air Force, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration as the boundary of space.

More @ Video and photo highlights of Virgin Galactic’s historic SpaceShipTwo test flight – Spaceflight Now
 


Not quite high enough to go into orbit but a huge step toward being able to carry passengers into space.

VIRGIN-TEST-FLIGHT-9.jpg


The air-dropped rocket plane took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in California under a four-engine carrier jet shortly after 7 a.m. PST (10 a.m. EST; 1500 GMT) Thursday and climbed to an altitude of 43,000 feet (13,100 meters). Piloted by Mark “Forger” Stucky and Rick “C.J.” Sturckow, the SpaceShipTwo vehicle released from its mothership and fired a hybrid rocket motor nearly 60 seconds to accelerate to Mach 2.9 — nearly three times the speed of sound — and soar to an altitude of 51 miles.

It was the first time Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, intended to carry space tourists on brief hops to the edge of space, has flown above the 50-mile mark, a threshold recognized by the U.S. Air Force, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration as the boundary of space.

More @ Video and photo highlights of Virgin Galactic’s historic SpaceShipTwo test flight – Spaceflight Now

It’s sad our society so little care for cutting edge technology anymore.
 

Forum List

Back
Top