5/23/2023 0 Comments Toy spaceshipVirgin Galactic bought out Scaled Composites' interest in TSC in 2012, and TSC is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Virgin Galactic. SpaceShipTwo (and the WhiteKnightTwo launcher aircraft) are built by The Spaceship Company, originally formed as a joint venture between Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic. Control was reestablished after the spaceplane entered its feathered configuration, and it landed safely after a 7-minute flight. In September 2011, the safety of SpaceShipTwo's feathered reentry system was tested when the crew briefly lost control of the craft during a gliding test flight. Don't believe anyone that tells you that the safety will be the same as a modern airliner, which has been around for 70 years. This is designed to be at least as safe as the early airliners in the 1920s. ![]() This vehicle is designed to go into the atmosphere in the worst case straight in or upside down and it'll correct. In 2008, Burt Rutan remarked on the safety of the vehicle: SpaceShipTwo has 43 and 33 cm (17 and 13 in)-diameter windows for the passengers' viewing pleasure, and all seats will recline back during landing to decrease the discomfort of G-forces. SpaceShipTwo and White Knight Two are, respectively, roughly twice the size of the first-generation SpaceShipOne and mothership White Knight, which won the Ansari X Prize in 2004. It will decelerate through the atmosphere, switching to a gliding position at an altitude of 24 km (15 mi), and will take 25 minutes to glide back to the spaceport. SpaceShipTwo is furthermore designed to re-enter the atmosphere at any angle. In contrast, orbital spacecraft re-enter at orbital speeds, close to 25,000 km/h (16,000 mph), using heat shields. SpaceShipTwo uses a feathered reentry system, feasible due to the low speed of reentry. The wing span is 8.2 m (27 ft), the length is 18 m (59 ft) and the tail height is 4.6 m (15 ft). SpaceShipTwo's crew cabin is 3.7 m (12 ft) long and 2.3 m (7 ft 7 in) in diameter. After 70 seconds, the rocket engine cuts out and the spacecraft will coast to its peak altitude. It launches from its mother ship, White Knight Two, at an altitude of 15,000 m (49,000 ft), and reaches supersonic speed within 8 seconds. SpaceShipTwo was designed to reach 4,200 km/h (2,600 mph), using a single hybrid rocket engine - the RocketMotorTwo. The predecessor craft, SpaceShipOne's target was also 100 km but the last flight reached an altitude of 112 km (70 mi). The apogee of the new craft was designed to be approximately 110 km (68 mi) in the lower thermosphere, 10 km (6.2 mi) higher than the Kármán line but as of July 2021, the maximum height reached was 89.9 km. Its capacity will be eight people - six passengers and two pilots. SpaceShipTwo is a low-aspect-ratio passenger spaceplane. The Spaceship Company licenses this technology from Mojave Aerospace Ventures, a joint venture of Paul Allen and Burt Rutan, the designer of the predecessor technology. The SpaceShipTwo project is based in part on technology developed for the first-generation SpaceShipOne, which was part of the Scaled Composites Tier One program, funded by Paul Allen. Its first flight to space (above 50 miles altitude), VSS Unity VP03, took place on 13 December 2018. ![]() ![]() ![]() The vehicle is undergoing flight testing. The second SpaceShipTwo spacecraft, VSS Unity, was unveiled on 19 February 2016. One pilot, Michael Alsbury, was killed the other was treated for a serious shoulder injury after parachuting from the stricken spacecraft. A preliminary investigation suggested that the craft's descent device deployed too early. On 31 October 2014, during a test flight, the first SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise broke up in flight and crashed in the Mojave desert. The spaceplane could also be used to carry scientific payloads for NASA and other organizations. Virgin Galactic plans to operate a fleet of five SpaceShipTwo spaceplanes in a private passenger-carrying service and has been taking bookings for some time, with a suborbital flight carrying an updated ticket price of US$250,000. On 29 April 2013, after nearly three years of unpowered testing, the first one constructed successfully performed its first powered test flight. The spaceship was officially unveiled to the public on 7 December 2009 at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. It then glides back to Earth and performs a conventional runway landing. SpaceShipTwo is carried to its launch altitude by a Scaled Composites White Knight Two, before being released to fly on into the upper atmosphere powered by its rocket engine. It is manufactured by The Spaceship Company, a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic. The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo ( SS2) is an air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism.
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