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Photo: Virgin Galactic |
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10.10.10
Virgin Galactic, the
US company developing the
world's first commercial manned space flight system and tourism business, is delighted to announce the successful completion today of the first piloted free flight of
SpaceShipTwo, named the
VSS Enterprise.
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Photo: Virgin Galactic |
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The spaceship was released from its mothership at an altitude of
45,000 ft (13,700 metres).
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Photo: Virgin Galactic |
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During its first flight the spaceship was piloted by
Pete Siebold, assisted by Mike Alsbury as co-pilot.
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Photo: Virgin Galactic |
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The two main goals of the flight were to carry out a clean release of the spaceship from its mothership and for the pilots to free fly and glide back and land at
Mojave Air and Space Port in California.
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Photo: Virgin Galactic |
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Other detailed objectives of the flight were successfully completed, including; verification that all systems worked prior and following the clean release of Enterprise; initial evaluation of handling and stall characteristics; qualitative evaluation of stability and control of SS2 against predictions from design and simulation work; verification of performance by evaluating the lift-to-drag ratio of the spaceship during glide flight; practice a landing approach at altitude and finally descend and land.
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Photo: Virgin Galactic |
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Preparations for the milestone flight were extensive.
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Photo: Virgin Galactic |
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The WhiteKnightTwo mothership (Eve) flew 40 times including 4 captive carry flights of spaceship and mothership mated together.
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Photo: Virgin Galactic |
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The most recent captive carry was on Sept 30th.
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Photo: Virgin Galactic |
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The most recent solo flight was on October 5th and demonstrated that all the systems required for a free flight by the
VSS Enterprise were functioning correctly without any safety issues.
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Photo: Virgin Galactic |
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Commenting on the successful flight
Scaled Composites pilot, Pete Siebold, said:
“The VSS Enterprise was a real joy to fly, especially when one considers the fact that the vehicle has been designed not only to be a Mach 3.5 spaceship capable of going into space but also one of the worlds highest altitude gliders.”
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Photo: Virgin Galactic |
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Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, who was present during the first successful flight, added:
“This was one of the most exciting days in the whole history of Virgin. For the first time since we seriously began the project in 2004, I watched the world’s first manned commercial spaceship landing on the runway at Mojave Air and Space Port and it was a great moment. Now, the sky is no longer the limit and we will begin the process of pushing beyond to the final frontier of space itself over the next year.”
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Photo: Virgin Galactic |
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Virgin Galactic is now well on the way to becoming the world's first commercial space line with
370 customer deposits totalling
$50 million.
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Photo: Virgin Galactic |
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Future commercial operations will be at
Spaceport America in New Mexico where final preparations are taking place for a finished runway inauguration ceremony on Friday 22nd October 2010.
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Photo: Virgin Galactic |
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National Geographic channel in the
United States will be showing a documentary on the build up and preparation for the
first flight of VSS Enterprise on Monday, 18th October at 10.00pm ET/PT.
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Photo: Virgin Galactic |
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George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic who was also present at the historic flight, added
“To see the world’s first manned commercial spaceship landing on a runway is a sight I always dreamed I would behold. Now, our challenge going forward will be to complete our experimental program, obtain our FAA licence and safely bring the system into service at Spaceport America, New Mexico.”
http://www.virgin.com/travel/news/virgin-galactic-make-first-crewed-flight
Video
Exclusive Footage - VSS Enterprise, First Manned Free Flight_101010_VNR_LOW FINAL.mov
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDUVe3a496Y&feature
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