Virgin Atlantic launches another shuttle 2yrs after crash

A new rocket plane from the New Mexico-based arm of the Virgin Group marks a return to near-space.

The new introduction is coming after a tragedy grounded Virgin Galactic’s airborne operations two years ago; the company has been slow and cautious in getting back in the saddle.

On Friday, “a spaceship built by our manufacturing arm, The Spaceship Company, and operated by us at Virgin Galactic has taken to the skies,” the company wrote in a blog post.

Read also: Sony’s secret home robot in the works

The nearly four-hour long flight involved two vehicles. It’s a unique aspect of Virgin Galactic’s spaceflight program, whose shuttles don’t launch from a ground-based pad, but rather from “under the wing of a carrier aircraft.”

In this case, the carrier aircraft role was fulfilled by the WhiteKnightTwo mothership, the VMS Eve, and the spacecraft itself was the VSS Unity.

Friday’s test was actually a so-called “captive carry” mission, in which the VSS Unity and VMS Eve stayed together for the entirety of the flight.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now