Spaceship for tourists made a test flight

Photo: virgingalactic.com

As is known, in September this year Virgin Galactic, famous for its ambitious plans to organize relatively affordable tourist suborbital space flights, resumed test flights after the tragic crash of the SpaceShipTwo suborbital spacecraft in 2014. And last Saturday, December 3, the VSS Unity tourist spacecraft made its first independent flight, separated from its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, and then safely planned for the airfield in the Mojava Desert in California, tells ITC.

The system from VMS Eve - VSS Unity took off on Saturday at 6: 49 local time from the strip of the Mojave Air and Space Port, which is located about 300 kilometers northeast of Los Angeles. Gaining a height of more than 15 thousands of meters, the spacecraft, piloted by Mark Stucky and David MacKay, separated from the aircraft and began planning a descent. At this stage, he developed speed in Mach 0.6, passed a series of tests of controllability, vibrations and other flight parameters, and then successfully landed at the Mojave airfield. Total flight time - 1 hour 20 minutes, self-flight time VSS Unity - about 15 minutes.

“Next time, we will fly even faster,” said Virgin Galactic President Mike Moses, adding that this 15 minute flight is an important milestone in the development of the program. Flying a Captive Flight Test on a test vessel is great, but there is nothing better than a free flight on a full-fledged aircraft. One day, the current glider will turn into a full-fledged spacecraft. ”

Recall the name for VSS Unity, which was introduced in February of this year, came up with the famous British theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking. By the way, Hawking had previously stated that he himself would like to fly on this ship.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Hawking believes that humanity has entered the most dangerous period of its development

Stephen Hawking explained the disappearance of information in black holes

The scientist created a video about how humanity in 60 over the years has jammed space

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.