Universe Getting Smaller As VirginMotherShip Proves Her Stuff
Saturday, December 27, 2008 at 12:20AM 
Photos: Alan Radecki at http://mojaveskies.blogspot.com/
Illustration: http://virgingalactic.com/
Her name is Eve, she has a 140’ wingspan, and now, she flies. On Sunday, 12-21-08, Scaled Composites' VirginMotherShip, also known as WhiteKnightTwo, became the largest all composite aircraft to fly.
It’s easy to misunderstand just how big this thing is by many of the pictures you see, but as can be seen in the lower pic above (from the day she was rolled out in July) this is a big airplane! The wing main spar is all one piece too, prompting designer Burt Rutan to suggest that it’s the largest single composite aircraft structure ever made.
However, being a big plastic airplane really isn’t the WK2’s big deal… it’s the task of dragging SpaceShipTwo up to about 50,000’ where the rocket fire will be lit and 2 pilots & 6 passengers will go for a (pricey) space ride.
I admit I’ve been a little slow to care about this whole private space venturing, but I’m starting to catch the cool factor here. I’m gonna watch very closely as this project moves toward the first flights that join the SpaceShip with the Momma. Cuz it won’t be long after that when people will trade $200,000 for the wildest roller coaster ride of their life, including about five minutes of for-real weightlessness. The flights will reach the lower thermosphere at about 110km above the planet (the ISS orbits in the upper thermosphere at about 320km.)
If you haven’t seen the video animation of an entire Virgin Galactic flight, check it out, it’s pretty stinkin’ cool. But don’t just watch it, really imagine yourself looking down at earth from about 360,000'!
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