Virgin Galactic: On Track For Powered Flight By The End Of 2012
Saturday, June 30, 2012 at 07:49AM 
SpaceShipTwo glide test yesterday in the very blue Mojave sky (photo: facebook)
Virgin Galactic is progressing nicely toward the first powered flight of the suborbital space transport system by the end of 2012. Yesterday, a successful glide test with Virgin Galactic chief pilot Dave Mackay as co-pilot marked the first time a non Scaled Composites pilot has flown the SpaceShipTwo prototype, also known as VSS Enterprise. And a few days earlier on June 26, 2012, VSS Enterprise completed a glide test in addition to the team completing a full duration test firing of the rocket motor for the spacecraft - the first time these two large tasks have been conducted in one day.
Awesome front view of the gliding SpaceShipTwo from yesterday (photo: facebook)
The rocket motor firing was performed by Sierra Nevada Space Systems, the prime contractor for the RocketMotor2 (RM2) system. The 55-second test was the thirteenth full-scale flight design RM2 hot fire. All objectives were completed. In addition to this test, on June 20 a full-scale RM2 test firing took place for the first time at Scaled Composites’ test site in Mojave California, under full direction of the spaceship’s Rocket Motor Controller. This firing provided an end-to-end test of the rocket motor systems – a critical step in preparation for powered flight.
Virgin Galactic chief pilot Dave Mackay after his first flight in SS2 (photo: facebook)
The tasks and goals to be achieved are huge in this test phase for the entire system of mothership, spaceship and rocket motor, but tremendous progress is being made with great success. It sure appears that it won't be long before an actual powered flight takes place which will bring this commercial space venture much closer to putting paying passengers in the cabin of SS2 and giving them the ride of their life! Godspeed Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites!
Reader Comments (1)
Pretty darn amazing, all this commercial space flight stuff :) Nice to see there are still people out there who dare to dream...or at least have the money that allows them too. lol
I'm glad to see so much of this taking place in California, I keep hearing how the aerospace industry is shrinking out here, so I guess maybe we could use the publicity?