Monday, October 11, 2010

Now Showing: Exclusive Footage Of SpaceShipTwo Test Flight

Virgin Galactic today released exclusive footage of the first piloted glide flight of SpaceShipTwo, which took place Sunday at Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, Calif.

Check it out HERE

ABOUT THE IMAGE: Click to enlarge this In this Virgin Galactic photo, which SpaceShipTwo gliding toward the Earth on its first test flight after release from the mothership, WhiteKnight2, over the Mojave, Calif., area early Sunday. SpaceShipTwo is undergoing rigorous testing before it can carry tourists to space. (AP Photo/Clay Observatory for Virgina Galactic)

14 comments:

notfromupnorth said...

who gives a crap about this? only RICH PEOPLE can afford to fly it!

Anonymous said...

If Burt Rutan can design this on a few millions instead of Billions, why doesn't NASA contract with him. This looks like a shuttle replacement to me. They proved they can reenter without heat problems. That reduces the complexity of the spacecraft and takes Billions out of the process.

Anonymous said...

notfrom .. that's the way it was when airlines started too ..

Anonymous said...

I'm excited to see private money pouring into space flight .. it's the right answer
you don't still see pony express riders, do you?

Graham ( from england) said...

If thats a replacement for the shuttle,i will eat my hat.No way not a chance.Please be realistic.

notfromupnorth said...

4:30, so one day the prices will come down to about $199 round trip?

Anonymous said...

People have to learn when these guys say they can do it faster and better they are not taking into consideration the loss of human life. If and when they start flying humans we will see how a tight schedule becomes real loose. SpaceX talked about the shuttle schedule delays and how they would have quick turn arounds. Well there schedule slipped for all kind of reasons and they are not even manned!

Anonymous said...

@6:18 - Scaled Composites already lost three employees when one of SpaceDev's hybrid rocket motors exploded while being tested for Spaceship II.

@5:17 - Exactly right. Airlines used to only be for the rich too.

@3:45 - This vehicle is only capable of supersonic/suborbital flight. The aeroheating and complexity associated with the two is hugely different. Comparing Spaceship II to the Space Shuttle is completely apples and oranges.

Anonymous said...

Go Galactic!

Anonymous said...

All the KSC union hacks must be really upset that Virgin Galactic is proving the private sector can do space access far cheaper and faster than the sclerotic government space program. There go all those fat government union jobs.

Anonymous said...

How about comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges. Scaled Composites test of Space Ship Two was a glider descent from 45,000 ft. which is around 8 1/2 miles of altitude. Not even close to altitude of NASA's first manned Mercury flight in 1961; its altitude then was about 116 miles - about 13 1/2 times higher. At 45,000 feet, Scaled Composites' Space Ship Two encountered very nonminal heat/friction - not even that of a supersonic aircraft. To give perspective, commercial airliners typically fly at altitudes between 35,000 - 40,000 ft. Lastly, there is a huge difference in designing a sub-orbital, relatively low altitude vehicle versus one capable of enduring the dynamics encountered at the orbital velocities of 17,500 mph. Kudos to Scaled Composites for all their achievements but let's not be quick to give them the same credit due to NASA. Their vehicle compared to the STS is like comparing a Cessna to an F18: they both fly well but their envelope parameters are vastly different.

Robert Jensen
Rockledge, FL

Anonymous said...

Burt Rutan graduated third in his class at Cal Tech. He knows EXACTLY how much energy it takes to get into orbit. He also knows how much money it takes. He is the first to propose a scheme for commercial human spaceflight that will actually make money without a government subsidy.

That said, his designs might have used more advanced and possibly safer liquid propulsion if NASA, under Bush, had not stupidly canceled the X-34 project, Scaled Composites built the airframes, and after the cancellation Rutan offered to fly the X-34 prototypes at his own expense. NASA refused, apparently concerned that they might look bad if a private company could succeed where they had failed.

Anonymous said...

Comparing Spaceship II to Shuttle is an apples to oranges comparison, yes. However, it's still bloody cool what the private industry is doing these days. Scaled and Virgin are getting the suborbital tourism going. SpaceX and Bigelow have their eyes set on orbital tourism. SpaceX and Bigelow have both place hardware into orbit. These are exciting times for spaceflight!!

Whatsamatteru said...

"Burt Rutan graduated third in his class at Cal Tech. He knows EXACTLY how much energy it takes to get into orbit. ..."

Then he knows that only booster rockets will get a payload into LEO. His goal is not LEO. His goal is sub-orbital.

FYI. Rutan doesn't own Scaled Composites anymore. Northrop Grummand bought it.