It really does look exactly like something on the cover of a 1970s SciFi magazine!
Virgin Galactic spaceship goes supersonic in second test flight
Virgin Galactic has moved one step closer to actual spaceflight with its second supersonic flight of its passenger carrying SpaceShipTwo. The test flight was a key milestone in the firm's attempt to become the world's first commercial space liner, flying (wealthy) tourists for brief journeys into suborbital space. The …
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Monday 9th September 2013 09:05 GMT James Hughes 1
Re: X15
Although the X15 is faster, (SS2 2500mph, X15 4,519mph), it does have a slightly higher ceiling (110km vs 108km), and does carry a load of passengers rather than just a highly qualified test pilot.
So it's not quite the same thing, and has its own set of constraints and design considerations. And since it goes above 100km, it most certainly is a spaceship.
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Friday 6th September 2013 18:16 GMT Chris G
Re: For all the whining about global warming....
Well at least the Beardy One and El Reg are doing something to keep interest in British Space pioneering, Though Branson is not quite a garden shed engineer he does wear the right kind of jumpers for it.
What is amazing is; at €190.000 a pop he has sold 625 tickets so he is keeping the dream of space flight alive.
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Saturday 7th September 2013 16:22 GMT John Brown (no body)
Re: For all the whining about global warming....
"What is amazing is; at €190.000 a pop he has sold 625 tickets so he is keeping the dream of space flight alive."
Agreed. Also, in the interview with the pilot on the BBC website, he states that the price is comparable to the price of a first class air ticket in the early days of flight. And look how short a time that took to become relatively affordable to the masses.
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Friday 6th September 2013 18:10 GMT John Smith 19
Actually looking like it will happen.
No this is not an orbital vehicle.
However it will give quite a few people (if it flies) experience of "near space," and perhaps an interest in going to full orbit.
BTW A Study by Reaction Engines Ltd indicates that a Skylon could carry 24 passengers. Dropping out a seat for a pilot and flight attendant that leaves 22 seats. They estimate that seats could be charged at $500k-$1m a seat for flights to a location lasting < 10 days.
So thumbs up for the test flight and moving forward to actually flying on this.
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Friday 6th September 2013 20:43 GMT John Smith 19
Re: Actually looking like it will happen.
"1. There is no pilot, it's automatic.
2. It's 30 passengers:"
Actually both are design studies. Passenger modules are expected to be handled by 3rd parties. However part of the flight test programme does call for flights to and docking with the ISS.
My information came from a Q&A with Mark Hempsell on The Space Show 2nd July 2012. No a pilot is not necessary but crew rating seems to prefer having the option for manual control.
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Friday 6th September 2013 20:19 GMT Anonymous Coward
Is that thing SAFE?
Looks like flying a hang-glider and lighting your own farts.
The words of Ming the Merciless come to mind :
"Pathetic earthlings. Hurling your bodies out into the void, without the slightest inkling of who or what is out here. If you had known anything about the true nature of the universe, anything at all, you would've hidden from it in terror."
Gotta hand it to Ming, he de man.
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Saturday 7th September 2013 08:08 GMT John Smith 19
Re: Is that thing SAFE?
"OK, as it turned out, the "escape tower" wouldn't have actually saved anybody in a launch failure."
Tell that to the Russians. It saved one Soyuz crews lives during a pad fire. They could not believe anyone would design a launch system without one.
"Arianespace wanted to get there. They opted out in the early 2000s because of the extra cost. "
No. Ariane 5 was designed to carry the Hermes human carrying spaceplane. It was but with all the upgrades I'm not sure it retained it.
"Human rating" is a process to get the reliability of ICBM hardware from 70% to about 99%. Large parts of it are done by simply a) Increasing the design safety factors from 1.25 (satellite launchs) to 1.4 (humans) and adding redundant hydraulics on the engines.
The Space Shuttle, by today's standards, does not make Human Rating.
Actually the lake of a launch escape system (among other things) meant that the Shuttle never met the human rated standard except when waivers to the standard were issued.
" I am not considering the Chinese space agency here because I have doubts about their commitment to crew safety."
Look up what the Gemini astronauts were flying on.
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Saturday 7th September 2013 12:25 GMT Vociferous
Re: Is that thing SAFE?
The space shuttle was always underperforming and unsafe. It was a ridiculous expensive vanity project designed to do one thing and one thing only: haul cargo to another vanity project, the equally ridiculously expensive and useless ISS. The prohibitive cost and limitation to stay in LEO of the shuttle and the ISS are the reason no human have walked on another celestial body since the 70's.
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Sunday 8th September 2013 11:34 GMT Vociferous
Re: Is that thing SAFE?
True, but the concepts of a LEO space station and a reusable LEO cargo truck were always linked at the hip. The shuttle was originally supposed to service Skylab, but due to delays came too late, and the shuttle became a cargo truck looking for a space station to haul cargo to. Enter ISS, the most expensive PR stunt in human history.
The US manned space program could perhaps have weathered one of these two white elephant projects, but combined the result was that manned space flight for five decades would be restricted to low earth orbit.
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Sunday 8th September 2013 13:43 GMT John Smith 19
Re: Is that thing SAFE?
"The shuttle was originally supposed to service Skylab, but due to delays came too late, "
Wrong. It was hoped (by some in NASA) that it could.
and the shuttle became a cargo truck looking for a space station to haul cargo to.
Wrong. that's why it has space for five people in addition to it's operators. It was expected to serve as a space station.
The true history of both STS and what is now called the ISS has been covered all over the Web.
The fact you have no idea of it suggests you should re-identify from "Vociferous" to "Ignorant."
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Saturday 7th September 2013 17:03 GMT Richard 12
Re: Virgin penetrates void
Yes, but out at the moon doing a urine dump or two can put you into a stable orbit from sub-orbital.
The point is that it doesn't have the delta-v for an orbit, which makes it considerably simpler.
For starters, no need to decelerate or aerobrake to get home safe. Just stay oriented and there you go...
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