Private Space Company Obtains Old Russian Space Station Modules

An Almaz space station module being transported on the Isle of Man. (Credit: Excalibur Almaz)

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The private spaceflight company Excalibur Almaz has obtained two partially completed Almaz space station modules from Russia and brought them to the company’s home base on the Isle of Man. The modules and Excalibur Almaz’ reusable return vehicles were developed by a Russian company in the 1970’s but were never flown. Excalibur Almaz hopes to offer week-long orbital space flights beginning as early as 2013, using the once top-secret Russian capsules and modules.

In 2009, EA reached an agreement JSC MIC NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) of Russia, the company that originally built the spacecraft, and purchased both the Reusable Return Vehicles rockets and modules for the Almaz space station. In the 1970’s, the RRVs went through nine flight tests, with two RRVs flown to orbit several times.

EA will work on updating the spacecraft to conduct crew and cargo space missions for private individuals, corporations, academic institutions and national governments.

In a press release, EA said the stations will be initially stored, followed by research, testing and possibly completion and launch to orbit.

“EA’s initial flights to orbit will be in the flight tested Excalibur Almaz Reusable Return Vehicles joined to and supported by service module living and working habitats,” EA said. “The space stations themselves are part of EA’s long-term business plan. It is not economically feasible to launch and sustain them on orbit until the company’s flight rate reaches six or more flights per year.”

EA Founder and CEO Art Dula said, “This is another significant landmark towards achieving our stated goals with continuing technical support from leading

The Almaz space stations are approximately 11 meters long and four meters in diameter; and are directly related to the module design used on the International Space Station as well as the earlier Russian Salyut and Mir space stations. Other unique features of the Almaz stations include the largest window ever developed for a spacecraft, boasting over two meters of panoramic view of the Earth and stars.

Source: Excalibur Almaz

Map of Future Lunar Landing Sites

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Google Lunar X PRIZE proposed landing sites. Copyright 2011 Phillip J. Stooke and Evadot.com. Used by permission.

Here’s the map of the future: a look where all the contestants in the Google Lunar X PRIZE intend to land on the Moon, in hopes of nabbing the $30 million in prizes available to the first privately funded teams to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon. Dr. Philip J. Stooke of The University of Western Ontario has put together a this very nifty proposed landing site map based on published data from the Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams. According to Michael Doornbos from the Evadot website, assisting in the visualization, they will be updating the map regularly as the public information gets updated. Click on the image to see the original (and larger version) on Evadot.com

If you remember, the participants in the Google Lunar X PRIZE not only have to land their robot, but it also has to travel 500 meters over the lunar surface and send images and data back to the Earth. Teams must be at least 90% privately funded. The GLXP hopes to ignite a new era of lunar exploration by offering this largest international incentive prize of all time.

Find out more at The Google Lunar X PRIZE Website

More Images, Details on SpaceX’s Dragon Flight

The Dragon spacecraft, in excellent condition after its 50,000 mile mission, rests in its cradle for the 500 mile ride back to Los Angeles.

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SpaceX has released more images and more details about the successful flight of Falcon 9 and the Dragon capsule that took place on December 8, making SpaceX the first commercial company in history to re-enter a spacecraft from Earth orbit. Here’s an image of Dragon safely on board a ship after splashdown. SpaceX said Dragon orbited the Earth at speeds greater than 7,600 meters per second (17,000 miles per hour), reentered the Earth’s atmosphere, and landed less than one mile from the center of the targeted landing zone in the Pacific Ocean. Wow, that’s some pretty good precision. See more images and details of the flight below.

The above image also shows a look at Dragon’s PICA-X heat shield, which SpaceX says is highly advanced. They worked closely with NASA to develop the heat shield, a variant of NASA’s Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) heat shield, which NASA used for the Stardust sample capsule returned, which set the record for the fastest reentry speed of a spacecraft into Earth’s atmosphere — experiencing speeds of 46,510 kph (28,900 mph).

NASA made its expertise and specialized facilities available to SpaceX as the company designed, developed and qualified the 3.6 meter PICA-X shield in less than 4 years at a fraction of the cost NASA had budgeted for the effort. The result is the most advanced heat shield ever to fly. SpaceX said one heat shield can potentially be used hundreds of times for Earth orbit reentry with only minor degradation each time, and that this flight proved it. During the press conference following the successful flight of Dragon, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said this heat shield could even withstand the much higher heat of a moon or Mars velocity reentry.

The Falcon 9 launch vehicle carrying the Dragon spacecraft, climbing from the launch pad. Credit: SpaceX/Chris Thompson

SpaceX said all nine Merlin engines performed “nominally,” which means they worked wonderfully. Together, the rocket engines generate one million pounds of thrust in vacuum, getting the entire stack off the ground and powering the first phase of flight. The rocket reached maximum dynamic pressure (the point at which aerodynamic stress on a spacecraft in atmospheric flight is maximized, also known as Max Q) approximately 1.5 minutes after launch. The first stage separation occurred a little over three minutes into flight.

After stage separation, flames are barely visible around nozzle as the second stage engine ignites and the first stage falls back to the Earth below. Credit: SpaceX

The single Merlin Vacuum engine of Falcon 9’s second stage then ignited to continue carrying the vehicle towards its targeted orbit. After stage separation, the nose cap at the front of the Dragon spacecraft safely jettisoned. The second stage fired for another four and a half minutes, until it achieved orbital velocity, and then the Dragon spacecraft separated from the second stage to begin its independent flight.

High contrast view of the Dragon spacecraft (circle at center) viewed from the top of the second stage as it departs over the curved horizon of the Earth. The rectangles indicate locations of three of the nano satellite deploying P-PODs carried on this mission. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX said Dragon’s first-ever on-orbit performance was 100% successful in meeting test objectives including maintaining attitude, thermal control, and communication activities. While in orbit, eight free-flying payloads were successfully deployed, including a U.S. Army nanosatellite—the first Army-built satellite to fly in 50 years.

After separation of the Dragon spacecraft, the second stage Merlin engine restarted, carrying the second stage to an altitude of 11,000 km (6,800 mi). While restart of the second stage engine was not a requirement for this mission (or any future missions to the ISS), it is important for future Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) missions, where SpaceX hopes to bring satellites for paying customers.

View from orbit from the side window of the Dragon spacecraft, received via video as it passed over Hawaii during its first orbit. Credit: SpaceX

What’s the view like from inside Dragon? Here’s a view looking out Dragon’s porthole, with a view of Hawaii. After the second stage separated, there was an expected loss of signal as the Dragon spacecraft passed over the horizon as viewed from the launch site. At that point, SpaceX activated Dragon’s video signal from a camera set up inside the capsule, delivering the first ever video sent from Dragon on orbit.

The SpaceX crew brought Dragon back to the barge where the crane lifted it from the water. Credit: SpaceX/Mike Althofen

For this first flight under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, everything went perfectly, with a nominal flight profile that included a roughly 9.5-minute ascent, two Earth-orbits, reentry and splashdown. Falcon 9 delivered Dragon to orbit with an inclination of 34.53 degrees—a near bull’s-eye insertion, according to SpaceX.

Now, on to the next demonstration flight, which will go to the International Space Station, and maybe even dock, if SpaceX has anything to say about it.


See our previous gallery of images and videos from the launch.

Source: SpaceX

Music From Space: DIY Satellite Will Capture Sounds of Ionosphere

Artist concept of an InterOrbital Tubesat in space. Credit: InterOrbital.

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For a space geek, the ultimate do-it-yourself project would be building a satellite in your basement. Astronomer and writer Sandy Antunes is doing just that, but there’s an artsy side to this project, as well. His satellite, called Project Calliope, will collect data from the ionosphere and send it back to Earth in sound-based MIDI files, allowing music to be created from space. “It’ll be an ionospheric detector transmitting sonifiable data back to Earth,” said Antunes. “Conceptually, it’s a musical instrument in space, played by space rather than just after-the-fact sonified.”

Antunes decided to embark on this project after the commercial space company InterOrbital began offering small DIY, soda-can-sized picosatellites for the reasonable price of $8,000 – which includes the launch.

One of the major reasons for doing the project is to prove that anyone can build a satellite in their basement – although Antunes admits it is also a fairly cheap midlife crisis expenditure, especially when his boss at the Science 2.0 blog, Hank Campbell, decided to pitch in half of the price.

The skeleton of the Antunes' satellite, assembled. Cat is for scale. Credit: Sandy Antunes.

“When people ask, ‘where did you get your idea?’ that misses the mark,” Antunes told Universe Today. “The question should be, ‘What idea do you have?’ We’re at the point now where a single hobbyist can send something into orbit to do something useful. I think this is a new space age way of thinking. I’d like to see if this inspires people to do something cooler than me. To me that is what science is all about.”

Antunes is documenting his experiences on his blog, The Sky By Day. “I’m making mistakes so that other people won’t have to make them,” he said. “Hopefully I can make the path will be easier for others.”

Plus, Antunes hopes to answer the big question of what space sounds like. The sun interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field in the ionosphere, creating all sorts of activity; there are also changes in temperature and light.

“People don’t know what space sounds like,” he said. “You walk to ocean and close your eyes and you can hear the roar of the waves, the rushing of water, the moments of quiet; and you can get a good idea of what activity is going on. But we don’t know have an idea of the activity of space, or the ionosphere, where this satellite is going. Sonifying the ionosphere will give people an idea of the ebb and flow of it – how there are constant events going on, sometimes catastrophic-type events but there is also a quiescent stage.”

When the data comes back to Earth, Antunes will give musicians free rein. “Musicians can take it and rework it, much like how musicians have ambient noise, nature sounds, or whale songs in a piece,” Antunes said, “but in this case they can take sounds from the ionosphere. We are making it royalty free so anyone can use it.”

The packaged components for InterOrbital's $8,000 DIY satellite. Credit: Sandy Antunes.

Antunes said working with the pre-packaged TubeSat Personal Satellite Kit is different than what he initially imagined. The Hubble Space Telescope, it is not.

“It has a power system that’s basically two lithium AA batteries hooked together, a little stick of gum computer chip, and some very fragile solar cells,” Antunes said. “I thought it would be hard science and tricky engineering and unsolved problems, but everything I’m getting is off the shelf. The sensors are plug-ins, so the primary work is integrating things. So there are very different problems from what I thought, but this tells me that you don’t have to have a PhD to put up a satellite.”

The current liftoff date for the first InterOrbital Tubesat launch is March or April of 2011. The company has built the rocket engines and they are now doing testing and test firings.

Antunes knows that testing a rocket has a lot of ambiguity, and he anticipates some delays, as even when he has been part of a NASA project, he has never had a launch go on time. This being the first launch of InterOrbital’s commercial satellite venture, if it blows up, Antunes will get a chance to refly his satellite.

Project Calliope will go into a short-term polar orbit, and last about 6-12 weeks, so it is a short term experience, Antunes said.

But he will be tweaking his satellite right up until delivery.

“I wanted to do something that NASA cannot, and that a University wouldn’t, combining art and science,” Antunes said. “I like the idea of flying something in space whose purpose is to make music until it dies– music from science.”

Listen to Antunes on the 365 Days of Astronomy explain why his small satellite will not hit you on the head.

The SpaceX Business Plan: Help Build a Spacefaring Civilization

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Elon Musk conceded that the space business world is an extraordinarily difficult place to make money. But that isn’t his main priority anyway.

“The reason I’m doing SpaceX,” Musk said during the Falcon 9/Dragon post-flight press conference, “is that I just happen to have a very strong passion for space and I want us to become true spacefaring civilization and even a multi-planetary civilization. That is my goal for SpaceX.”

“Other companies have profit goals and such, but for SpaceX it is really about furthering the cause of space,” Musk continued. “We must bring in more money that we spend, but maximizing profitability is not really what it is about.”

Musk said he has been upfront with investors in SpaceX that a high profit margin is not his priority, “and so they can’t be mad when that doesn’t happen.”

He added that he wants to make science fiction –“what you read about the future,” — to become reality.

The discussion of profit started when Musk revealed that the Falcon 9 second stage was restarted and flew to 11,000 km (6,800 miles) to release some secondary satellite payloads, including a U.S. Army nanosatellite. SpaceX was paid minimally for only some of those payloads, Musk said.

Wednesday’s test flight was the first of three financed by NASA under a $278 million Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) agreement, the main cog of a program designed to encourage commercial space companies to develop rockets and spacecraft to deliver cargo – and later perhaps crew — to the International Space Station after the space shuttle is retired next year.

The interior configuration of the Dragon capsule. Credit: SpaceX

After the Dragon’s initial success, Musk said he hopes NASA will consider allowing Dragon to go directly to the International Space Station on the next flight, estimated to take place in mid-2011. Since Dragon is capable of carrying 5987 kg (13,200 pounds) of cargo in pressurized and unpressurized cargo bays, it can bring more than twice as much cargo as Russian Progress resupply ships.

Musk also thinks Dragon can compete with Lockheed’s Orion capsule, the only part of the Constellation Program that NASA has maintained.

“What I’m hopeful for is that NASA may consider the Dragon as good as Orion,” Musk said. “It is good to have multiple companies doing something, so Lockheed has Orion and we have Dragon and we would certainly like to have Dragon considered for anything that Orion could do. Perhaps we could do more because our heat shield is significantly more advanced.”

While Musk said SpaceX could not have gotten where it is today without NASA’s support and path-making, Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office, said with the success of this flight, the benefits might be going both ways.

“As much as SpaceX is learning from NASA, there are certainly things we can learn from SpaceX,” he said.

Gallery: Dragon/Falcon 9 Launch and Recovery Photos, Videos

Falcon 9 launch with Dragon. Credit: SpaceX

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Enjoy a few glimpses at history from the Dec. 8 launch of Falcon 9 and Dragon.

Falcon 9 launch with Dragon. Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket at 10:43 a.m. EDT. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.

Here is video from a camera on Dragon while in orbit.

Dragon descends via parachute. Credit: SpaceX
Dragon recovery. Credit: SpaceX

And for good measure, here’s the launch video again:

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden’s statement on the success of the launch:

The Future is Now: SpaceX Flight 100% Successful

SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphot.com) for Universe Today.

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Hailed as a both a great day for commercial spaceflight as well as for NASA, SpaceX made history on Wednesday with a 100% successful test flight of its Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket. “This is a new way of doing business,” said Alan Lindenmoyer manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office, “and I would say today this is an indication that this public/private partnership is working and has proven to be successful. Thanks to SpaceX for the early Christmas present – this is a great way to start the holidays.”

At the press conference following the flight, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk at first appeared to be speechless: “Really, this has been better than I expected,” he said. “It all went right. I am sort of in semi shock—I wish I could be more articulate in moments like this, bit it’s hard to be articulate with a blown mind!”

But Musk soon found his words – and lots of them (with many great quotes, so keep reading…)

SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.

Lindenmoyer said SpaceX’s accomplishments are quite an achievement, since over the last 20 years, for new launch vehicles only about 50% of them are success are successful on their first or second flights, and only 1 out of 3 new vehicles have two successful flights in a row, which SpaceX has achieved.

Musk said the success really shouldn’t be a surprise since the Dragon spacecraft has so many redundancies: 18 thruster engines instead of 9, 3 parachutes when they really could land with one, extra thermal protection, and a very advanced heat shield. But in the end, SpaceX didn’t need to use any of the backup systems.

Preliminary data said the Dragon reentered the atmosphere spot on at a 12% angle of attack, with 2% dispersion. “This is a testament to the incredible work of the people at SpaceX,” he said. “Everyone did their jobs so well.”

Musk also emphasize that his company couldn’t have gotten to where they are without NASA, in not only monetary support ($278 million for the COTS program), but in leading the way in spaceflight.

“The core concepts of Falcon 9 and Dragon were demonstrated decades ago by NASA, and its an old saying, but we are only here because we stand on the shoulders of giants. So thank you,” he said.

Musk noted a few key things about the flight: The restart of Falcon 9’s second stage went perfectly; the second stage as restarted after the release of Dragon, and rose to an altitude of more than 11,000 km (6,800 miles), Musk said. Secondary satellite payloads of nanosatellites were released during the flight. And, Musk added, that altitude was with the trimmed, repaired nozzle. Reaching an altitude that high was not part of SpaceX’s primary objectives, but nice to have, Musk said.

Dragon went to an altitude of 300 km.

Musk also stressed that the difference between this Dragon capsule and one that could carry people isn’t that different.

“People sometimes think the different between cargo and crew required enormous amount of magical pixie dust,” he said “This is not the case. If there would have been people sitting in Dragon today, they would have had a nice ride, feeling about 4-5 G’s, which is about what an amusement park ride is like,” with an 8 meter per second descent speed which is quite comfortable from a landing perspective.

Image of Dragon capsule recovery efforts. Credit: SpaceX

The only differences, Musk said, would be the addition of a launch escape system. And, he revealed, what SpaceX really hopes to do with future spacecraft is not a splashdown in the ocean but a propulsive landing on the ground.

“The architecture you saw today was similar to what was employed in Apollo era, but we are aiming for propulsive landing with gear, kind of like the Eagle landing on the moon, and being able to take off again” he said. “Full reusability of Dragon and Falcon 9 is important as well, and something we want to figure out over time.”

Musk also said this mission didn’t have many significant differences in one that would send the Dragon the ISS. “In our discussions with NASA they said if this flight went well they would strongly consider letting us go to the space station on next mission,” he said. “I hope that is what NASA will allow us to do, we need to still examine the data from this mission first, but I’m highly optimistic. There are additional elements to be added to Dragon such as solar panels and redundancy on flight computers and electronics, but feel highly confident we could make it to the ISS on our next flight by middle of next year.”

Today’s flight tested the fundamentals of a heat shield and precision landing. Musk said the performance of heat shield was spectacular, and projected that is could not only handle Earth reentry, but also lunar and Mars reentry.

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell noted some other technical details, of how Dragon was able to maintain attitude and thermal control, as well as maintain communications with ground stations and TEDRIS satellites, which requires specific directional pointing.

The entire launch and two orbit flight took 3 hours 19 min 52 seconds, and initial data said they landed within 10 km of their target, and a communiqué from the Air force said Dragon came within 800 meters.

Asked about the flame flare that came about 2 seconds after launch, Musk said the first look by engineers said it was a check valve on the second stage umbilical that came off and caught fire as the spacecraft engines passed by — not an explosion but a just little fire.

Musk said the point in the flight where he felt the most jubilation and great relief was when the parachutes deployed. “Drogue and main chute deploy were riskiest parts, so when that happened, it was done deal. Just mind-blowingly awesome.”

Asked if the success today would silence any of SpaceX’s critics, Musk said, “I think if there really are people who are going still find a way to cast aversions on what we’ve done today, I pity them. It just wouldn’t make any sense.”

He said politicians who initially wanted to cut commercial crew funds from NASA’s budget soon learned that such a move would not decrease but increase the deficit and also meant increased time with no American access to space. “I think some politicians were initially mislead, but then they realized the value of commercial crew, which is why it the cuts didn’t make it into the final report.”

Asked about the differences in Dragon and NASA’s Orion spacecraft, Musk said that Space X would probably be the most rapid path to an American crew transport system. “If we would have had people on this flight we would have taken them to orbit and returned them safely,” he said. “Going to a crew system is just adding some additional safety systems for highly off nominal activities. Even for cargo missions we will be carrying plants and animals so I think we are in a very strong position to be one of the winners of the commercial crew contract.”

Musk added that competition is good, however, and NASA shouldn’t be too dependent on one company,” so hopefully there will be two or maybe three commercial crew providers and hopefully we are one of them.”
Musk agreed with Lindenmoyer on how this appears to vindicate the public/private model of space flight and shows that the commercial model works just as well in space flight as in air flight, or other arenas.

“The air mail program was a huge boost when the Post Office went commercial,” he said “and that resulted in explosion of innovation and improvement in technology. It really was the dawn of aviation in American where it went from joy rides that rich people could do, to today where aviation is accessible to almost everyone. I think historically COTS program will be seen in that light.”

On board Dragon was a few small satellites, and look for Musk to reveal tomorrow the nature of a humorous item that was on board. “I’m not going to reveal it today, as I don’t want some of the editors to use it in the first headlines,” he said. “It is kind of funny and if you like Monty Python you’ll like this one.”

Spam in a can?

Universe Today extends their congratulations to SpaceX. The future appears to be now.

SpaceX Test Fire Aborted

The Falcon 9 rocket makes its way to the launchpad on Thursday in preparation for the test firing. Credit: SpaceX

A static test firing of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was cut short as computer systems shut down the first-stage engines before the test was complete. The firing was only going to last two seconds, but the engines ran for 1.1 sec due to high engine chamber pressure, according to SpaceX. Space News reported that engineers are analyzing the data and that a second attempt is likely to occur tomorrow, Dec. 4. This abort occurred just four days before SpaceX is schedule to conduct the maiden launch of its Dragon space capsule on board the medium-class Falcon 9.

This video is from SpaceX’s webcast of the firing and unfortunately is a bit jumpy.

The first-stage firing was part of a dress rehearsal conducted in preparation for the planned Dec. 7 launch, the first of three increasingly complicated flight demonstrations of Falcon 9 and Dragon under the company’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) agreement with NASA.

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In a press release from SpaceX from Dec. 2, the company said the rehearsal would “exercise the countdown processes and end after the engines fire at full power for two seconds, with only the hold-down system restraining the rocket from flight.”

After the test, SpaceX said they would conduct a thorough review of all data as engineers make final preparations for the upcoming launch.

The rockets uses kerosene and liquid oxygen, and the nine Merlin engines generate one million pounds of thrust in vacuum.

The $278 million COTS agreement has SpaceX developing and demonstrating hardware capable of ferrying cargo to and from the International Space Station.

We’ll post more information about the abort as it becomes available.

Viewing Alert: Virgin Galactic Flight Featured on Nat Geo Channel

Mojave, CA: Test pilot Brian Binnie in pressure suit. Looking into the windows are pressure suit vendor Jack Bassick, Space Program Manager for Scaled Composites Matt Stinemetze and crew member Terry Agold. (Photo Credit: © Virgin Galactic/ Mark Greenberg)

Here’s some exclusive video of the first glide flight of SpaceShipTwo earlier this week, shared by the National Geographic Channel, which has a new documentary series about Virgin Galactic premiering Monday, October 18, at 10 p.m. ET/PT. (Check your local listings at the Nat Geo Channel website). The series will cover maverick entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson and legendary aeronautical engineer Burt Rutan as they strive to be first to make space tourism an everyday reality. Also included in the premiere episode will be the backstory of the venture, including Rutan’s win of the Ansari X Prize with SpaceShipOne and WhiteKnightOne.

National Geographic Channel also shared a few images from Sunday’s flight, below.

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The underside of WhiteKnightTwo during flight. (Photo Credit: © Virgin Galactic/ Mark Greenberg)
Mojave, CA: SpaceShipTwo in the hangar with its nose exposed. (Photo Credit: © Antenna Films/ Tyrone Billingsley)

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Makes First Glide Flight

SpaceShipTwo's glide flight. Credit: Virgin Galactic

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Does this image look futuristic? Well, the future is here, as this is an actual image from October 10, 2010 (today!) Virgin Galactic’s future passenger ship made its first manned glide flight on Sunday. SpaceShipTwo’s unpowered flighted lasted about 11 minutes after the spacecraft was released from its White Knight Two mother ship, Eve, at 13,700 meters (45,000 feet) over the Mojave Desert. Scaled Composites test pilot Pete Siebold flew her down to the Mojave Spaceport, with with Mike Alsbury as co-pilot. “The VSS Enterprise was a real joy to fly,” said Siebold after landing, “especially when one considers the fact that the vehicle has been designed not only to be a Mach 3.5 spaceship capable of going into space but also one of the worlds highest altitude gliders.”

UPDATE: Virgin has now released a video of the flight, see below.

SpaceShipTwo will carry six people in addition to two pilots, providing those on board with a view of space and several minutes of weightlessness once space flights begin. Eventual operational flights of SpaceShipTwo will occur from Spaceport America in New Mexico. Latest word is that the first passenger flights could begin in 2011.

All the flight and all systems appeared to operate trouble free. After a clean release, Siebold completed initial flight handling and stall characteristic evaluation of SpaceShipTwo. After completing a practice approach and landing, Siebold made a smooth landing.

VSS Enterprise glides through the Mojave skies. Credit: Virgin Galactic, Mark Greenberg

“This was one of the most exciting days in the whole history of Virgin,” said Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic. “For the first time since we seriously began the project in 2004, I watched the world’s first manned commercial spaceship landing on the runway at Mojave Air and Space Port and it was a great moment. Now, the sky is no longer the limit and we will begin the process of pushing beyond to the final frontier of space itself over the next year.”

“This is a critical milestone in Virgin Galactic’s test program and a great day for the commercial spaceflight industry,” added John Gedmark, Executive Director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. “At the end of the day, getting hardware off the ground is what it’s really all about. Today’s SpaceShipTwo test flight marks another key milestone towards opening the space frontier for private individuals, researchers, and explorers. Congratulations to the entire SpaceShipTwo team.”

SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo are being developed for Virgin Galactic by Scaled Composites, who built SpaceShipOne, the first privately-built vehicle to fly a person into space, which won the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE.

Future passengers will be flown about 100km (62 miles) above the Earth and experience several minutes of weightlessness before returning to Spaceport America. Tickets cost $200,000 and deposits start from $20,000. Find more info about passenger flights at Virgin Galactic’s website

Sources: Virgin Galactic, Commercial Spaceflight Federation