VSS Unity, Virgin Galactic Spaceship

[-332FG-Gordon200]

Virgin Galactic took to the skies yesterday for the third time in less than four months, for a test of its aircraft launched rocket system. The spacecraft VSS Unity was carried up by the carrier aircraft VMS Eve to a height of 14.173 km, when pilots Dave Mackay and Mike “Sooch” Masucci lit the spaceship’s rocket motor and took it on a near-vertical climb at Mach 2.47.

The planned 42 seconds rocket burn took pilots and spaceship through the Stratosphere and, at an apogee of 52.059 km, into the Mesosphere for the first time.

According to www.virgingalactic.com/…, the test flight, among other things, gathered more data on supersonic aerodynamics as well as thermal dynamics, as Virgin Galactic prepares for launch of tourists and satellites into low earth orbit.

 

Here is the video of the Virgin Galactic flight. It is sheer delight to watch the huge double-fuselage carrier aircraft taxi and take off with VSS Unity and then watch the flight of VSS Unity through the eyes of its onboard cameras and then watch it glide into a perfect landing at the Mojave Air and Space Port.

 

 

https://twitter.com/coreyspowell/status/1021934424408113154/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1021934424408113154&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2018%2F7%2F27%2F1783995%2F-Virgin-Galactic-SpaceshipTwo-Flies-into-the-Mesosphere