Video: First rocket-powered flight of SpaceShipTwo
Private joyrides and research trips to the edge of space just got closer to reality. Today suborbital plane SpaceShipTwo completed its first rocket-powered test flight high over the Mojave desert.
The commercial space plane, docked to its carrier mothership WhiteKnightTwo, took off from the in southern California at 14.02 UTC Monday. The pair rose to an altitude of about 14 kilometres, and then the carrier ship released SpaceShipTwo.
Moments later, test pilots Mark Stucky and Mike Alsbury triggered ignition of the rocket motor, which flared dramatically, prompting cheers and applause from spectators on the ground.
Advertisement
The engine burn lasted for 16 seconds. Under its own power, SpaceShipTwo climbed to 16.7 kilometres and accelerated to 1470 kilometres per hour 鈥� just over the speed of sound 鈥� before beginning its descent. The entire test flight lasted about 10 minutes and ended with a smooth landing back at the spaceport.
Transformational flight
鈥淭oday鈥檚 supersonic success opens the way for a rapid expansion of the spaceship鈥檚 powered flight envelope, with a very realistic goal of full space flight by the year鈥檚 end,鈥� Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson said in a written statement. 鈥淲e saw history in the making today and I couldn鈥檛 be more proud of everyone involved.鈥�
Ultimately, the ship鈥檚 rockets will fire for 70 seconds, allowing it to carry six passengers and two pilots to a maximum altitude of about 100 kilometres, the unofficial boundary between Earth鈥檚 atmosphere and space. Passengers will experience about 5 minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth.
For now the cost per seat is $200,000, but Branson hopes to see trips get more affordable as private space flight becomes routine.
鈥淭his is a big step forward,鈥� says Alan Stern, an astronomer at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and founder of private moon mission company Golden Spike. He plans to fly on a Virgin Galactic research flight, possibly as early as 2014 if all goes well. 鈥淪uborbital is going to make a space-access revolution for researchers, educators and private individuals. It鈥檚 going to be transformational.鈥�
