Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Completes Powered Test Flight

DooKey

DooKey

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Virgin Galactic is back to flying powered spacecraft again after a fatal crash of their first ship in 2014. This flight was launched from high-altitude from the mothership and it reached a top speed of Mach 1.6. The final altitude of the craft wasn't released, but the fact that it successfully made this flight is a positive step for VG. Now they need to perfect this technology and start giving the other commercial launch competitors a run for their money. Check out the launch video.

Watch the video here.

Following the investigation into what happened, The Spaceship Company (a Virgin Galactic subsidiary) made some changes to the design of SpaceShipTwo, according to CNBC. If all goes well with future powered tests, then Virgin Galactic could become one of the premier names in space tourism and launch providers.
 
anyone else feel like they filmed it like a daft punk video lol... i kept thinking "television... rules the nation" everytime the jets would go
 
dgingeri said:
Mach 1.6 is considerably far from orbital velocity. That's not very impressive.
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As their market is suborbital they are on point. IMO much better market positioning pricing and experience. When folks start puking they will want to head back to earth vs.being stuck on orbit; and there will be a lot of puking. The bucket list is "go to Space", just like climbing "Everest" vs climbing without Oxygen like Messner.
 
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Amusingly I knew a person who was certified "Space Travel Agent" through V.Galactic. Hopefully they remember me if they need a hairless ape to send up in the first few runs.
 
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mrp said:
As their market is suborbital they are on point. IMO much better market positioning pricing and experience. When folks start puking they will want to head back to earth vs.being stuck on orbit; and there will be a lot of puking. The bucket list is "go to Space", just like climbing "Everest" vs climbing without Oxygen like Messner.
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I was reading a while back that NASA has yet to figure out who will be susceptible to space sickness. So someone like me who never gets motion sickness no matter what, is as likely to get it as anyone else. Sounds like lots of fun (and yeah, I'd go up without a second thought if I could afford it :) ).
 
dgingeri said:
Mach 1.6 is considerably far from orbital velocity. That's not very impressive.
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Agreed - I would say X-15 did a far better job, to be fair, the VG is a bigger ship.

Nonetheless, it's still exciting though.
 
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