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A privately shapely spaceship shapely by the expanse tourism consort Virgin Galactic soared finished its long grace ease today (April 22) during a drop effort over California's Mojave Desert.

The suborbital Virgin Galactic spacecraft, called SpaceShipTwo, maneuvered finished the skies over the Mojave Air and Space Port during the mark test. The Mojave-based aerospace consort Scaled Composites is overseeing construction and grace investigating of SpaceShipTwo and its WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane for Virgin Galactic.

According to Scaled's SpaceShipTwo grace effort log, today’s piloted movement marks the ordinal release of the expanse plane at broad elevation from the WhiteKnightTwo mothership. [Photos: SpaceShipTwo Makes First Glide Flight]

"Looks same another beatific period for the Scaled team as we move finished the effort program," said George Whitesides, chair and CEO of Virgin Galactic.

Whitesides told SPACE.com that the grace was the long SpaceShipTwo movement grace to date.

Test airman saint Siebold and co-pilot Doug Shane, who is the chair of Scaled Composites, flew SpaceShipTwo during the test, which lasted 14 transactions and 31 seconds, said Christine Choi, a spokeswoman for Virgin Galactic.

The movement tests typically hit a checklist of items that arrange from evaluating unchangeability and curb of SpaceShipTwo to maintaining airman proficiency.

The prototypal SpaceShipTwo vehicle, titled the VSS Enterprise, and its mothership VMS Eve are both being matured by Scaled Composites for nation billionaire and individual Sir Richard Branson, who supported the Virgin Galactic spaceline. [Vote Now! The Best Spaceships of All Time]

SpaceShipTwo satellite are designed to carry six passengers and digit pilots to the bounds of expanse and back. The flights are due to substance a impressive view of the Earth and individual transactions of weightlessness, Virgin Galactic officials hit said.Tickets for the flights cost $200,000 per seat.

Test grace successes

SpaceShipTwo has been place finished an ever-expanding set of grace objectives, play with its maiden free-flight on Oct. 10, 2010; a ordinal movement effort on Oct. 28; a third drop effort on Nov. 17; and a fourth movement effort early this assemblage on Jan. 13.

Shortly after macadam touchdown, a debriefing was held involving organisation participating in the movement flight.

More tests of the SpaceShipTwo are due as part of a sacred crusade to primed the foxiness for advertizement operations. A major mark ease to come are the SpaceShipTwo tests involving short, job and long blasts from the spacecraft's hybrid herb motor.

Last month, a ordinal full-scale grace design herb motor hot-fire was performed using ground effort facilities. Reportedly, every objectives were completed, much as evaluating fuel performance, nose operation and monitoring the unchangeability of the burn.

 

Spaceport USA construction

Meanwhile, construction of New Mexico's Spaceport USA -- billed as the world's prototypal purpose-built advertizement spaceport -- is nearing completion. This site module support Virgin Galactic's advertizement expanse business of flying passengers into space.

Once fully operational, Spaceport USA module handle both plumb and horizontal launch vehicles.

In February, the Spaceport Authority Board of Directors announced that Christine Anderson has become Spaceport's chief director. Among individual past expeditionary and civil positions, she was the founding director of the Space Vehicles Directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico.

Virgin Galactic's VSS Enterprise effort grace information is slated to move finished 2011, prior to advertizement operations, which module be supported at Virgin Galactic's forthcoming office at Spaceport USA in New Mexico.

Leonard David has been reporting on the expanse business for more than fivesome decades. He is a succeeder of this year's National Space Club Press Award and a past editor-in-chief of the National Space Society's Ad Astra and Space World magazines. He has cursive for SPACE.com since 1999.

• Vote Now! The Best Spaceships of All Time
• Photos: SpaceShipTwo's First Solo Glide Flight
• Virgin Galactic's Private SpaceShipTwo Soars Over San Francisco

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