Virgin Galactic Reaches 'Space' For The First Time Ever

The plane took off from the runway at 7.11am local timeVirgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic has just reached one of the biggest milestones in its history – its first test flight to space, a crucial step in ushering in the age of space tourism.

The flight of their SpaceShipTwo space plane, called VSS Unity, took place in the early morning today, December 13 from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. On board were pilots Mark Stucky and Frederick Sturckow.

Their vehicle was carried into the air by a larger aircraft called WhiteKnightTwo, or VMS Eve. The two lifted off from the runway at about 7.11am local time (3.11pm UTC).

At about 13,000 meters (43,000 feet) in altitude and at 8am local time (4pm UTC), VSS Unity was dropped from its mothership, when its rocket motor kicked to life. Burning for 60 seconds, it took it to a supersonic speed of Mach 2.9.

A minute later, it reached the highest point of its flight  82.7 kilometers (51.4 miles) above the surface of Earth and into space by some definitions. This is also above the altitude needed for the two pilots to officially be classed as astronauts.

"SpaceShipTwo, welcome to space," Virgin Galactic wrote on Twitter.

Once it reached its highest point, known as apogee, the two pilots were afforded some brief moments of microgravity. Then, the space plane tilted up its tail  – called a feathering system – to safely re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.

VSS Unity returned to the runway at 8.14am local time (4.14pm UTC), with the flight from the drop to the landing lasting 14 minutes in total.

This was the fourth rocket-powered test flight of VSS Unity, but crucially its first ever flight to space. Its previous maximum altitude, on July 26, 2018, reached a height of 52 kilometers (32 miles), with a previous top speed record of Mach 2.4.

VSS Unity was built by Virgin Galactic’s sister company, The Spaceship Company. The vehicle, named by the late Professor Stephen Hawking, is powered by a hybrid rocket motor, using both solid and liquid rocket engines. It has 17 windows on board to afford glorious views of space and Earth.

Virgin Galactic, with British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson at the helm, has never reached space before. Today’s flight therefore marks a huge achievement for the company ahead of flying paying customers, perhaps as early as 2019.

Founded in 2004, Virgin Galactic’s goal has always been to take customers into space aboard its space plane. The company partnered with another called Scaled Composites, which managed to reach space with the predecessor to SpaceShipTwo – called SpaceShipOne – in 2004.

But it has been a long and difficult road for Virgin Galactic to get to this point. Scaled Composites suffered an explosion during an engine test in 2007, which killed three workers. And in 2014, Virgin Galactic’s first vehicle – VSS Enterprise – was destroyed during a test flight, killing pilot Michael Alsbury.

Since then the company has sought to rebuild, with Branson often touting how close the company was to reaching space. In October this year, he told CNBC that they would be in space “within weeks, not months.”

While that prediction, like so many others, has not been exactly accurate, reaching space at all is a huge achievement for the company. In a statement, they noted it had taken years “to get to this exciting stage.”

This flight signaled the longest time they had ever fired the rocket motor on board the space plane, which is used to reach the speeds necessary to cross the line into space. The actual definition of where space begins is up for debate, with some using an altitude of 80 kilometers (50 miles), and others using the traditional Kármán line at 100 kilometers (62 miles).

As the space plane went supersonic, ground controllers watched closely to see at what point to shut off the rocket motor. At the peak of its flight, while the pilots were afforded a few moments of microgravity, they remained firmly strapped into their seats.

On future flights, however, up to six paying customers – at $250,000 a ticket – will also be sitting in the plane. When VSS Unity makes these flights in future, it will target up to six minutes in microgravity as it reaches apogee, with the passengers able to get out of their seats and float around.

It’s not just passengers that Virgin Galactic plans to fly, either. On board this flight were four research payloads for NASA, with the potential for similar experiments to take place in the future.

Whatever way you look at it, it’s hard to overstate just how important this flight was for Virgin Galactic, and for space tourism in general. Some foresee a future where companies like this, and others like Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, are regularly taking people on short jaunts into space.

Today’s flight makes that future all the more likely. Ad astra – to the stars through hardships.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanocallaghan/2018/12/13/virgin-galactic-reaches-space-for-the-first-time-ever/#1aea1d6e1c35