After completing four captive carry test flights, Virgin Galactic conducted the first-free flight drop test of its second SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity. The test took place on Saturday, December 3rd over California’s Mojave Desert. “Today, VSS Unity was piloted by Mark Stucky and Dave Mackay, with pilots Mike Masucci and Todd Ericsson as well as […]
There is little doubt that SpaceX is for the moment in a class by itself in developing partially reusable orbital space transportation, but it is interesting to note that the company has had very little to say regarding what if any role it sees for space tourism in the products it is developing. The Dragon […]
Its hard to feel like your’re living in the space age during those increasingly unpleasant hours you spend flying the “friendly skies.” That it happens at speeds which are no faster than they were when the commercial jet age got underway, and only begin after an excruciating journey to and through the airport, only add […]
Virgin Galactic is making progress in its bid to enter the small launcher business with its LauncherOne two-stage, liquid fueled booster. Last week, the company announced that LauncherOne’s carrier aircraft, a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-400 named appropriately enough, Cosmic Girl, arrived in Waco. Texas for conversion to its new assignment. LauncherOne will be carried to […]
The nascent suborbital space tourism industry suffered a major blow on October 31st, 2014, when Virgin Galactic’s VSS Enterprise was lost in a mid-air breakup over the Mojave desert during a powered test flight. Co-pilot Michael Alsbury was killed, and pilot Michael Siebold was badly injured. With the company already years behind schedule in the […]
Virgin Galactic Press Release: Dec 03, 2015 LAUNCHERONE PROGRAM TO USE DEDICATED 747-400 AIRCRAFT TO RESPONSIVELY AIR-LAUNCH SMALL SATELLITE CUSTOMER PAYLOADS San Antonio, TX – December 3, 2015 – Virgin Galactic introduced the newest addition to its fleet of vehicles today as part of a technical update on its LauncherOne small satellite launch service. The […]
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