Virgin Galactic’s White Knight Two in Action

[Terry Olaes]

We’ve told you about Virgin Galactic and their upcoming suborbital carrier “White Knight Two.” Wired has a short video of the plane in action so check it out if you’re interested in Branson’s budding space biz.

 

[jellyhead]

News link appears to be busted - in lieu of which, what exactly does this aircraft deliver that can't be done with more conventional units? Cheers.

 

[jellyhead]

Sorry, nay bother - Google is my friend ; )

 

[morkboy_wonder]

I wouldn't want to go on this thing until it has had a couple of hundred test runs.

 

[Myg]

News link appears to be busted - in lieu of which, what exactly does this aircraft deliver that can't be done with more conventional units? Cheers.

At a guess, its the combination of the wingspan plus the extra fuelselage (probably for redundancy purposed)

 

[R0N1]

Cool plane, but it's true that it doesn't look so safe. But then again, I don't know anything about aircrafts.

 

[VolvoR]

I've read quite a bit about this venture, and from all the reading I've done, Virgin Galactic won't get off the ground (bad pun) if the plane isn't as safe as any conventional aircraft. This is an amazing step for "normal" people to go to space, even if it's only for a few minutes.

On a side note, Richard Branson has a book about his life and business. Now I'm not normally one to read autobiographies, I find them boring and self indulgent, but his book was amazing. It read like a novel with comedy, tragedy, and a few lessons along the way. It talks about his balloon adventures and his race across the ocean. At one point he actually quotes one of my clients' late husband (Gerry Pencer of Cott Cola who made the pop for Virgin Cola). To me this is a must read book.

http://www.amazon.com/Losing-My-Vir...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241352138&sr=1-1

 

[Kazzanova]

I used to drive by the new mexico spaceport about once a month, when I lived in Las Cruces. I always hoped that it would get used when I lived in the state Now I am in Assachusetts.

 

[RiPpLeeFFecT]

Seen this thing go up on a few test flights since I work at the same airfield. I've never seen a plane with more lift before. Its weird to watch it climb so quickly w/o the speed or angle you'd expect.

Almost looks like its being dangled by a string.

 

[Kazzanova]

Ooo, could you pick me up some Hatch chiles =P

But yea, I would like to pick up some land in that area, in hopes that the space tourist business is a booming one I love the state, especially the south central portion

 

[DeadlyAura]

I'm intrigued by this aircraft. It's like one day someone said "hey, I wonder what happens if we weld two planes together by the wing tips?"

And voila.

I'm also curious to find out what the maximum or cruising speed of the aircraft will be. With 4 jet engines on a sleek totally carbon fiber fuselage, I can only guess that this thing is going to be fast as all hell granted it will hold up a those speeds.