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Space tourism plane makes maiden test flight
London:
A carrier aircraft known as 'White Knight Two', which
is designed to be the first stage of a commercial spaceline
system, has made its maiden test flight. Designed by Scaled
Composites, the White Knight Two mothership rolled down
the runway of the Mojave Air and Space Port in California
and muscled itself into the air using four Pratt and Whitney
PW308A turbofan engines, on December 21. It flew for about
an hour, departing the runway at roughly 8:17 a.m. Pacific
Standard Time, safely touching down at the Mojave Air
and Space Port at approximately 9:17 a.m. PST (Pacific
Standard Time). "It's a big day," said Stuart Witt, general
manager of Mojave Air and Space Port. "I think it's a
real reflective time. When everybody's looking for a bailout,
there are still people that are doing something for a
much larger reason," he told Space.com. The hour-long
test flight of White Knight Two made use of a minimum
flight test crew. According to Dick Rutan, a witness to
the flight, "It all went well. All the big things worked
well. Overall, 99 percent on target and everybody is really
happy. You get an airplane that's this weird and get it
up and get it down, and it's safe on deck." After a number
of shakeout flights, the White Knight Two is to be outfitted
with the now-under-construction Space Ship Two. Ultimately,
White Knight Two is to carry the space plane to altitude,
where it will then detach and head for suborbital space
flights. The White Knight Two/Space Ship Two combo is
to serve as the backbone of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin
Galactic suborbital spaceline operations. Virgin Galactic
has on order five Space Ship Two rocket planes and two
of the carrier craft, with options on more. Given a progressive
roster of test evaluations at the Mojave Air and Space
Port, the spaceline system is to be commercially operated
at the now-under-construction Spaceport America in New
Mexico. The price tag per seat on the two pilot/six passenger
suborbital Space Ship Two is 200,000 dollars.
-Dec
22, 2008
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