Take off! Today is 7th flight for VSS Unity #SpaceShipTwo, 226th for VMS Eve #WhiteKnightTwo
VSS Unity has just been released from WhiteKnightTwo to glide home. 3rd glide flight test for #SpaceShipTwo
Smooth landing for VSS Unity. In #SpaceShipTwo: pilots Dave Mackay and CJ Sturckow.
#WhiteKnightTwo has landed, completing today’s test. Crew today were pilots Todd Ericson & Kelly Latimer, flight test engr Dustin Mosher.
Just watched @virgingalactic Spaceship 2 land after test flight -beautiful aircraft :-)
Spaceship over the Sierras today on the way to glide flight. Pilots successfully flew higher airspeed test points. Photo: Todd Ericson.
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Aces 3rd Glide Test Flight http://dlvr.it/NTMzxh
QuoteJust watched @virgingalactic Spaceship 2 land after test flight -beautiful aircraft :-)https://twitter.com/profbriancox/status/835193931591782400
Indeed, beautiful aircraft. When it's the launching date?
Virgin Galactic VSS Unity First Glide (2016)AIRBOYDPublished on Mar 20, 2017Video Credit: ©Virgin Galactic http://www.virgingalactic.com
In other news, it seems Richard Branson has offered Stephen Hawking a ride..: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3129334/stephen-hawking-planning-trip-to-space-after-being-offered-a-seat-on-virgin-galactic-flight/
Quote from: CameronD on 03/21/2017 01:16 amIn other news, it seems Richard Branson has offered Stephen Hawking a ride..: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3129334/stephen-hawking-planning-trip-to-space-after-being-offered-a-seat-on-virgin-galactic-flight/The original offer was a decade ago (here's a BBC article from 2007: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6594821.stm). What's interesting is that he's still thinks he's well enough to go, presumanly in the next year or two.
In other news, it seems Richard Branson has offered Stephen Hawking a ride..: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3129334/stephen-hawking-planning-trip-to-space-after-being-offered-a-seat-on-virgin-galactic-flight/Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 03/21/2017 06:13 amQuote from: CameronD on 03/21/2017 01:16 amIn other news, it seems Richard Branson has offered Stephen Hawking a ride..: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3129334/stephen-hawking-planning-trip-to-space-after-being-offered-a-seat-on-virgin-galactic-flight/The original offer was a decade ago (here's a BBC article from 2007: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6594821.stm). What's interesting is that he's still thinks he's well enough to go, presumanly in the next year or two.
Quote from: CameronD on 03/21/2017 01:16 amIn other news, it seems Richard Branson has offered Stephen Hawking a ride..: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3129334/stephen-hawking-planning-trip-to-space-after-being-offered-a-seat-on-virgin-galactic-flight/Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 03/21/2017 06:13 amQuote from: CameronD on 03/21/2017 01:16 amIn other news, it seems Richard Branson has offered Stephen Hawking a ride..: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3129334/stephen-hawking-planning-trip-to-space-after-being-offered-a-seat-on-virgin-galactic-flight/The original offer was a decade ago (here's a BBC article from 2007: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6594821.stm). What's interesting is that he's still thinks he's well enough to go, presumanly in the next year or two.The real point is that after 14 years of working on Virgin Galactic flights, and a decade after offering Hawking a ride, somehow this is the big news from VG. Still months away from the Von Karman line, as they have been for a very long time. Still no schedule for passenger flights. Still fiddling with that hybrid engine. When VG started, Falcon 1 was a preproduction model on a truck. Now it's a close race as to who gets people to space first: VG at a dead stop or SpaceX at 7 km/sec.
Why on earth are you comparing it to Space X, surely a more useful and far more accurate comparison is with Blue Origin and their current activities.
Quote from: Star One on 03/21/2017 10:23 pmWhy on earth are you comparing it to Space X, surely a more useful and far more accurate comparison is with Blue Origin and their current activities.I thought that was obvious... Getting people to orbit is absurdly harder than getting them to 100 km, and yet SpaceX may beat VG in doing just that. That's nuts, especially when you consider that VG started with a system that had already gotten a pilot to their goal.
Quote from: QuantumG on 03/22/2017 03:30 amQuote from: Star One on 03/21/2017 10:23 pmWhy on earth are you comparing it to Space X, surely a more useful and far more accurate comparison is with Blue Origin and their current activities.I thought that was obvious... Getting people to orbit is absurdly harder than getting them to 100 km, and yet SpaceX may beat VG in doing just that. That's nuts, especially when you consider that VG started with a system that had already gotten a pilot to their goal.Yes, the ironing is thick.All the marketing in the world can't undo bad design choices.They unveil, and announce, and partner, and are opening up this and that, and have an official vodka, and hotel chain, and have built a Spaceport, and have already redefined (twice) what space access even means...Only one little thing is missing.So in a way, they're 99% there...---This is not persevering in the face of hardship. I'm a fan of that. If you fail, try try again.Never give up, never surrender.But there's something unique about the arrogance that this one particular company is radiating that's been pissing me off ever since I saw Burt Rutan dump all over Jeff Greason in Jeff's own hangar in the middle of an XCOR press event, and continues in the company's attitude towards the world through today. (Long after he's gone from its reincarnation)It paints the entire industry in an unflattering color.---Woah. That escalated quickly. Time for bed...