Virgin Galactic conducts second test flight of VSS Unity

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Photograph courtesy of MarsScientific.com and Trumbull Studios

Above: The VSS Unity flies over the Mojave Desert on its second supersonic flight, May 29, 2018. Below: Sir Richard Branson welcomes VSS Unity following completion of the successful test flight.

   Sir Richard Branson joined Virgin     vehicle’s center of gravity rearward       preparing Unity again for flight,” said     While in Mojave, Richard Branson       new spaceships for Virgin Galactic’s
Galactic and The Spaceship Company       via the addition of passenger seats and    a company spokesperson.                  also toured the facilities of The Space-  future fleet. Branson viewed the next
teams May 29, on the Mojave Air and      related equipment. The rocket motor                                                 ship Company, Virgin’s Galactic sister    two spaceships on the TSC’s manufac-
Space Port flight line, to witness VSS   burned for the planned 31 seconds and         Branson was on the runway tarmac      company. TSC is focused on manu-          turing line, as well as the production
Unity’s second successful, supersonic,   propelled Unity to a speed of Mach         to greet this flight’s VSS Unity pilots  facturing next generation aerospace       facilities for TSC’s spaceship rocket
rocket powered test flight.              1.9 and an altitude of 114,500 feet. As    Dave Mackay and Mark “Forger”            vehicles, with a primary focus on         motors.
                                         will be the case for future commercial     Stucky. In addition to the pilots of
   “It was great to see our beautiful    flights, Unity’s unique re-entry feather-  VSS Unity, Branson recognized CJ                                                                      Photograph courtesy of Quinn Tucker
spaceship back in the air and to share   ing system was deployed for the initial    Sturckow and Nicola Pecile, the pilots
the moment with the talented team        descent before the final glide home to     of the carrier aircraft, VMS Eve.
who are taking us, step by step, to      a smooth runway landing.
space” Branson said. “Seeing Unity                                                     “Today we saw VSS Unity in her
soar upwards at supersonic speeds is        Once in commercial service, Virgin      natural environment, flying fast under
inspiring and absolutely breathtaking.   Galactic’s spaceships are designed to      rocket power and with a nose pointing
We are getting ever closer to realiz-    be turned around and flown at a high-      firmly towards the black sky of space”
ing our goals. Congratulations to the    er frequency than has traditionally        he said. “The pathway that Unity is
whole team!”                             been the case for human spaceflight.       forging is one that many thousands of
                                         The flight today brought that vision       us will take over time, and will help
   The focus of today’s flight was to    a little closer, coming less than two      share a perspective that is crucial to
expand understanding of the space-       months after Unity’s first rocket pow-     solving some of humanity’s toughest
ship’s supersonic handling characteris-  ered flight. “Great credit goes to the     challenges on planet Earth.”
tics and control system’s performance    engineering and maintenance teams
with vehicle parameters that were        for working through the first flight’s        The teams will now conduct flight
closer to the ultimate commercial con-   data diligently and efficiently before     data review for this flight and contin-
figuration. This involved shifting the                                              ue planning preparations for the next
                                                                                    flight.

June 1, 2018 • Volume 32, Issue 9        Serving the aerospace industry since 1986                                           Use your smartphone to connect to
                                              www.facebook.com/aerotechnews                                                               our Website.
            www.aerotechnews.com