Virgin Galactic announced that its commercial manned spaceship, VSS Enterprise, successfully completed its first “captive carry” test flight. It took off this morning at 7:05AM PST from Mojave Air and Spaceport, California, attached to its carrier aircraft VMS Eve. The flight lasted 2 hours 54 minutes, and reached an altitude of 45,000 feet. [The photo at right, provided by Virgin Galactic, shows the twin-fuselaged Eve taking off with Enterprise attached to the airframe between the hulls.]
Both vehicles—second generation follow-ons to the prize-winning SpaceShipOne and WhiteKnightOne—are being developed for Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, by Mojave based Scaled Composites. The new craft share much of the same basic design as their progenitors, “but are built to carry six fare-paying passengers on sub-orbital space flights, allowing an out-of-the-seat zero gravity experience and offering astounding views of the planet from the black sky of space.”
Commenting on the historic flight, Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan said: “This is a momentous day for the Scaled and Virgin Teams. The captive carry flight signifies the start of what we believe will be extremely exciting and successful spaceship flight test program.” [The photo at left, provided by Virgin Galactic, shows the black-bottomed Enterprise in flight attached between the hulls of the twin-fuselaged Eve.]
Branson added: “Seeing the finished spaceship in December was a major day for us but watching VSS Enterprise fly for the first time really brings home what beautiful, ground-breaking vehicles Burt and his team have developed for us. It comes as no surprise that the flight went so well; the Scaled team is uniquely qualified to bring this important and incredible dream to reality. Today was another major step along that road and a testament to US engineering and innovation.”
The test flight program is expected to continue though 2010 and 2011, progressing from captive carry to independent glide and then powered flight, prior to the start of commercial operations, which are currently expected sometime in 2012. Virgin Galactic has already taken in $45 million in deposits for spaceflight reservations from more than 330 people.
Related articles previously published on SFScope:
Branson and Rutan unveil SpaceShipTwo (7 December 2009)
Branson and Rutan unveil WhiteKnightTwo (29 July 2008)
SpaceShipTwo more than half complete; soon to fly passengers into space (24 January 2008)