Virgin Galactic's supersonic plane reaches a mile of 50 kilometers
The rocket-powered aircraft, VSS Unity, was flown by two veteran pilots to a maximum height of 51.4 miles, and surpassed the 50-mile mark that the US government recognizes as the edge of the room. It uses the 50-mile mark to assign astronauts.
"I hope we go to space today," he said in front of promise.
It was the fourth driven test flight for VSS Unity and the closest yet to mimic the airplane as it is expected to one day take on commercial missions. Success's success means that the company could only be a few months away from taking up its first trip with tourists. A goal Virgin Galactic has been working for 1[ads1]4 years.
Instead of aiming for a NASA-esque vertically launched rocket, Virgin Galactic uses a rocket-powered spacecraft called VSS Unity, a craft that is more comparable to the supersonic X-aircraft developed by the US military.
VSS Unity took off at its mother ship, WhiteKnightTwo. Then, VSS Unity's pilots, about 43,000 feet in the air, announced the release of the aircraft. After a few seconds of throwing, VSS Unity's rocket engine drove in and drove the vehicle straight up at supersonic speeds.
In addition to the test pilots, a flight test dummy and four unnamed research burdens from NASA's Flight Opportunities Program aboard to help simulate the weight distribution of having onboard passengers.
Virgin Galactic has not said when it plans to begin commercial flights.
"Incremental flight testing programs are by definition open and largely depends on each test of the data from the test ahead of it," said the company. "There is no guarantee that everything will work perfectly the first time, and as all programs want to take bold steps, we will inevitably have times when things are not going as planned."
Branson Space Venture suffered a major setback in 2014 when its first spacecraft, VSS Enterprise, broke down during a test flight, killed the fellow pilot Michael Alsbury and injured the pilot Peter Siebold.
The tragedy asked critics of space tourism who considered such projects irresponsible risky. But the Virgin Galactic ran back.
The company is squared up to compete directly with Blue Origin, the space carrier founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos in 2000 to offer suborbital tourism flights.
Both companies are still in the test phase. And Blue Origin – who plans to fly tourists on an automated vertically launched rocket – has not yet completed an obsessed flight or begins selling tickets.
Virgin Galactic states that around 600 people have booked tickets, priced between $ 200,000 and $ 250,000 to board aboard their supersonic aircraft. Some have been waiting for a decade for their shot.
When asked about Virgin Galactics's competitors in a recent interview with CNN Business, Branson said it was not a "run".
"Security is all that matters if you put people into the room," he said. ] Branson, who plans to be on the first passenger aircraft aboard VSS Unity, has said he hoped that Virgin Galactics pilots should reach space before December 25th.
