New Branson spaceship in solo debut
More than two years after one of its spacecrafts crashed, killing the co-pilot, Virgin Galactic sent its SpaceShipTwo back in the air on Sunday for its first ‘‘glide flight.’’
Taking off from the Mojave Air and Space Port, the spacecraft flew for about an hour tethered to the belly of its mothership, known as WhiteKnightTwo. Then pilots released the spacecraft, which did not fire its engines but glided safely down back to the ground.
The company, founded by Richard Branson, plans to eventually take paying customers past the edge of space, where they would experience several minutes of weightlessness. More than 700 people have bought tickets costing up to US$250,000 (NZ$350,000).
In 2014, an earlier version of SpaceShipTwo came apart midflight. Since then, the company has redesigned the vehicle, dubbing the new version VSS Unity and making it safer, the company said. – Washington Post