- SpaceShipTwo completes 6th glide test. Photo Credit: Bill Deaver, Deaver-Wiggins and Associates
It’s the home of Scaled Composites and the firm’s ongoing work to develop a passenger-carrying suborbital launch system.
WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo are undergoing extensive checkout and testing – backed by UK billionaire and adventurer, Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic spaceline company.
Recently, the privately-built SpaceShipTwo flew twice over a two-week period: On April 22nd and then five days later on April 27th. Both flights – the 5th and 6th for the vehicle — saw the piloted craft dropped from high altitude by the WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane.
SpaceShipTwo on its April 27th glide chalked up its longest time in the air: 16 minutes and 7 seconds.
The glide tests are leading up to yet another milestone. A specially-developed hybrid rocket motor is to be integrated within the SpaceShipTwo. That motor will undergo short to medium to long burns, pushing the rocket plane to higher and higher altitudes.
Given a successful run of test flights, the SpaceShipTwo is expected to enter commercial service next year. The craft is designed to propel six passengers and two pilots to the edge of space.
The departure point for pay-per-view tourists headed for the suborbital heights will be from Spaceport America in New Mexico.
By Leonard David