Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic is a spaceflight company founded by the English billionaire Richard Branson in 2004.

A mother ship and its spaceplane (the middle fuselage)
A mother ship without its spaceplane. This mother ship is White Knight Two. It was made by Scaled Composites (a company)
Looking from underneath: a mother ship and its spaceplane (the middle fuselage).

Flights
  • In May 2021 one of the company's spaceplanes took people into space.[1][2]
  • On 11 July 2021, Richard Branson and three employees were passengers on a flight, up to an altitude of 86 km (53 mi); the flight had two pilots.[3] However, the rocket plane Unity flew outside restricted airspace;[4][5] That happened for 1 minute and 41 seconds. The Federal Aviation Administration allowed [any] SpaceShipTwo rocket plane to fly again [from] September 2021, after deciding to expand (or make larger) the restricted airspace around the vehicle's flight range.[6]
  • In May 2023, the company's fifth spaceflight happened.
  • In June 2023, the rocket plane Unity was in space for 13:50 minutes. It came to a distance from Earth of 85 km (52 mi), and top speed was Mach 2.88. Galactic 01 is the name of the flight.
  • The spaceplane Unity is rocket-powered. It is a SpaceShipTwo type spaceplane. In 2021, it came to an altitude of 86 km (53 mi), with people inside.
    The spaceplane Unity is rocket-powered. It is a SpaceShipTwo type spaceplane. In 2021, it came to an altitude of 86 km (53 mi), with people inside.[3]

Newer kind of spaceplanes
  • a SpaceShip III (SS3 or SS III) was shown in March 2021, but the first one - the VSS Imagine - has not flown (as of Spring 2022).[7] When in operation, it can do space tourism; It will not do point-to-point transportation (such as flying from London to Sydney).
  • the Delta spaceplanes are supposed to be ready in 2025, according to the company in July 2022; The next generation of mothership should also be ready by 2025.[8] The Delta spaceplanes will do the same things as a SpaceShip III.[9]

Website

References
  1. "Virgin Galactic rocket plane flies to edge of space". BBC News. 2021-05-22. Retrieved 2021-05-25.
  2. "Virgin Galactic провела первый запуск своего космического корабля с людьми на борту". AIN.UA (in Russian). 2021-05-24. Retrieved 2021-05-25.
  3. Howell, Elizabeth (10 July 2021). "Meet the crew launching on Virgin Galactic's 1st fully crewed flight Unity 22". Space.com. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  4. Shepardson, David (2 September 2021). "U.S. Aviation agency probes Branson's Virgin Galactic flight deviation". Reuters.
  5. Shepardson, David (2021-09-02). "U.S. bars Virgin Galactic rocket plane flights pending mishap probe". Reuters.
  6. Foust, Jeff (2021-09-29). "FAA clears Virgin Galactic to resume SpaceShipTwo flights".
  7. "Virgin Galactic Unveils VSS Imagine, The First SpaceShip III In It's Growing Fleet". 30 March 2021. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  8. Natalie Clarkson (7 July 2022). "Virgin Galactic announces Boeing's Aurora will build new motherships". Virgin Galactic. Virgin Group.
  9. Sheetz, Michael. "Virgin Galactic unveils ‘VSS Imagine,’ the first of its next-generation spaceship series", CNBC, March 2021. (retrieved 21 July 2022)


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