Scaled Composites LLC

Tourism SpaceShipTwo spacecraft could fly alone on its first glide test this year, said an official of Virgin Galactic, one of the most exciting announcements for those who want to (and can afford) a short trip to space. The six-passenger ship has flown attached to the wing of another special aircraft equipped with a jet engine, on three occasions, including July 15, when first traveled with two pilots aboard. That flight, directed by the construction of spacecraft Scaled Composites LLC over the Mojave desert in California allowed the team to assess all systems and functions in the air and study the origin of life on our planet, said Stephen Attenborough, an Executive of Virgin Galactic in London. Scaled is currently evaluating data collected during the recent flight before determining when the SS2 held its first independent glide, but there is a reasonable possibility that is performed at the end of year, Attenborough said in an e-mail sent to The Associated Press. SpaceShipTwo will be carried by a ship at an altitude of up to 15,240 meters (50,000 feet), where it will be released. Then, their engines will illuminate to embark on a journey of high speed into the space, where passengers will experience a few minutes without gravity. Virgin Galactic circulated photos that ship first appears in position of flight, with wings flushed upward.When the spacecraft reached an altitude of 21.340 meters (70,000 feet) its wings again rotate downward, taking the position of a conventional aircraft, to glide back to a landing runway. Virgin Galactic has said that it expects that the space test program will continue until the coming year, after which will begin commercial operations. About 900 people have bought $200,000 passages or made a deposit, according to the company. Original author and source of the article