SpaceShipTwo flies to space from New Mexico
Posted: Tue, May 25, 2021, 8:01 PM ET (0001 GMT)
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane made its first flight to the edge of space in more than two years Saturday. The VSS Unity vehicle was released from its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft at 11:26 am EDT, nearly an hour after takeoff from Spaceport America in New Mexico. The vehicle, with two pilots on board, flew a "near-perfect" flight, reaching a peak altitude of 89.2 kilometers before gliding back to a landing at Spaceport America. The flight was the first powered flight of SpaceShipTwo since February 2019, and the first from New Mexico. This was the first in a series of four suborbital flights of the vehicle the company has scheduled for the next several months before beginning commercial service, now expected in early 2022.
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane made its first flight to the edge of space in more than two years Saturday. The VSS Unity vehicle was released from its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft at 11:26 am EDT, nearly an hour after takeoff from Spaceport America in New Mexico. The vehicle, with two pilots on board, flew a "near-perfect" flight, reaching a peak altitude of 89.2 kilometers before gliding back to a landing at Spaceport America. The flight was the first powered flight of SpaceShipTwo since February 2019, and the first from New Mexico. This was the first in a series of four suborbital flights of the vehicle the company has scheduled for the next several months before beginning commercial service, now expected in early 2022.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Friday, April 25
Boeing reports progress on containing Starliner costs
Space News — 5:52 am ET (0952 GMT) Katalyst Space acquires Atomos to accelerate in-space services
Space News — 5:51 am ET (0951 GMT) Okapi raises 13 million euros to expand space traffic management suite
Space News — 5:51 am ET (0951 GMT) Hidden and hampered: elevating the Office of Commercial Space Transportation
Space News — 5:51 am ET (0951 GMT) Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft arrives at Tiangong space station
Space News — 5:51 am ET (0951 GMT) |
