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from the depending-on-your-definition-of-space dept.
Submitted via IRC for Bytram
Virgin Galactic: Rocket reaches space again in test flight (Update)
Virgin Galactic's rocket plane reached space for a second time in a test flight over California on Friday, climbing higher and faster than before while also carrying a crewmember to evaluate the long-awaited passenger experience.
The winged spaceship soared at three times the speed of sound to an altitude of 55.8 miles (89.8 kilometers) before gliding to a safe landing at Mojave Air and Space Port in the desert north of Los Angeles, Virgin Galactic said.
In addition to chief pilot David Mackay and co-pilot Mike "Sooch" Masucci, the crew included Virgin Galactic's chief astronaut instructor, Beth Moses.
Moses, described as an expert micro-gravity researcher who is in charge of evaluating the passenger cabin, floated free to test elements of the interior.
Virgin Galactic is working toward commercial operations that will take passengers on supersonic thrill rides to the lower reaches of space to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and a view of the Earth below.
[...] A major goal of Friday's flight was evaluating its handling during descent with its twin tails rotated upward relative to the fuselage.
The "feathered" configuration is used to slow and stabilize the craft as it falls back into the thickening atmosphere. The name came from designer Burt Rutan comparing the mechanism to the feathers of a badminton shuttlecock. The tails rotate back to normal position for the glide to Earth.
Altitude and speed were not specific targets for the flight, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said in an interview earlier this week.
"If we have sort of a nominal-duration burn we will get up pretty high, but that is not one of the formal test goals for this one," he said.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday February 25 2019, @05:21PM
Many people who have much better knowledge of rockets than me have been questioning whether the new design can really get past 100km when loaded.
The fact that Virgin is seeking an out by calling 80km "space", and not insisting that they're "just progressively testing to 100km", makes me think that there is a valid question there.
If they have a lot more performance available, I didn't hear them trumpet it after the web called them on the 80km claim.
They made almost 90km. Darn Rocket Equation is making it hard to just find 11% more altitude under the couch cushions.