The company is specialising in human spaceflight for private individuals and researchers, as well as being a manufacturer of air and space vehicles.The flight marks a milestone toward the launch of Virgin Galactic’s commercial service.The glide flight, flown at higher speeds than before, allowed the team to continue to evaluate systems and vehicle performance, said the company.
“Flying VSS Unity in glide configuration at higher speeds enables certain vehicle systems to operate close to the environment seen during phases of rocket boost on a spaceflight. The spaceship achieved a glide speed of Mach 0.85 after being released from the mothership VMS Eve at an altitude of 51,000 ft. Unity completed multiple test-points before touching back down smoothly for a runway landing at Spaceport America.”
Unity is picture with Eve, above, and alone,Pending a data review of the flight, the next stage of the flight test programme is powered spaceflights from Spaceport America. There will also be final modifications to the spaceship customer cabin and detailed inspections of the vehicle and systems, said the company.
“I am thrilled with the team’s hard work to complete today’s test flight successfully,” said George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic. “It was an important test that, pending data review, means we can now start preparing the vehicles for powered flight.”
“Our focus for this year remains unchanged on ensuring the vehicles and our operations are prepared for long-term, regular commercial spaceflight service.”
Flying the craft “Unity” were were Michael ‘Sooch’ Masucci and Mark ‘Forger’ Stucky (pictured), both pilots being commercial astronauts.
The first test flight took place at the company’s commercial headquarters in New Mexico on 1 May 2020.
Source: This news is taken from www.electronicsweekly.com
