KIWI
03-23-2010, 06:07 AM
Virgin spaceship makes first test flight
http://tvnz.co.nz/technology-news/virgin-spaceship-makes-first-test-flight-3429594
http://amkon.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=576&stc=1&d=1269334918
A suborbital spaceship owned by aspiring space tourism operator Virgin Galactic was airlifted into the skies over California's Mojave Desert for its debut test flight.
The sleek, six-passenger ship, called VSS Enterprise, remained attached to its carrier aircraft throughout the two-hour, 54-minute flight.
Virgin Galactic, an offshoot of billionaire Richard Branson's London-based Virgin Group, has collected about $63 million in deposits and fares from more than 330 aspiring amateur astronauts, each of whom will be charged $US200,000 to experience a few minutes of suborbital spaceflight.
Entreprise was designed and built by Burt Rutan, founder of Mojave-based Scaled Composites, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Northrop Grumman.
"Watching VSS Enterprise fly for the first time really brings home what beautiful, ground-breaking vehicles Burt and his team have developed for us," Branson said in a statement.
Test flights are scheduled through 2011, with commercial operations targeted to begin in 2012.
Enterprise is closely modelled on a prototype suborbital spaceship named SpaceShipOne, which won a $14 million prize for the first privately financed manned spaceflights in 2004.
It is now in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
Updated at 8:30pm on 23 March 2010
Defence scientists from Australia and the United States have successfully tested a hypersonic aircraft in outback South Australia.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2010/03/23/1247f89fd6ba
The craft took off from Woomera Test Range, soaring through the atmosphere at more than 5000 km/h.
It was its second test flight following the first one last May.
It is hoped the international study into hypersonic flight could eventually lead to vastly reduced air travel times, possibly making Sydney to London a two-hour flight.
Copyright © 2010 Radio New Zealand
the "craft" , if its the same deal as used back in May...... is a pretty crappy looking little rocket
http://tvnz.co.nz/technology-news/virgin-spaceship-makes-first-test-flight-3429594
http://amkon.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=576&stc=1&d=1269334918
A suborbital spaceship owned by aspiring space tourism operator Virgin Galactic was airlifted into the skies over California's Mojave Desert for its debut test flight.
The sleek, six-passenger ship, called VSS Enterprise, remained attached to its carrier aircraft throughout the two-hour, 54-minute flight.
Virgin Galactic, an offshoot of billionaire Richard Branson's London-based Virgin Group, has collected about $63 million in deposits and fares from more than 330 aspiring amateur astronauts, each of whom will be charged $US200,000 to experience a few minutes of suborbital spaceflight.
Entreprise was designed and built by Burt Rutan, founder of Mojave-based Scaled Composites, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Northrop Grumman.
"Watching VSS Enterprise fly for the first time really brings home what beautiful, ground-breaking vehicles Burt and his team have developed for us," Branson said in a statement.
Test flights are scheduled through 2011, with commercial operations targeted to begin in 2012.
Enterprise is closely modelled on a prototype suborbital spaceship named SpaceShipOne, which won a $14 million prize for the first privately financed manned spaceflights in 2004.
It is now in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
Updated at 8:30pm on 23 March 2010
Defence scientists from Australia and the United States have successfully tested a hypersonic aircraft in outback South Australia.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2010/03/23/1247f89fd6ba
The craft took off from Woomera Test Range, soaring through the atmosphere at more than 5000 km/h.
It was its second test flight following the first one last May.
It is hoped the international study into hypersonic flight could eventually lead to vastly reduced air travel times, possibly making Sydney to London a two-hour flight.
Copyright © 2010 Radio New Zealand
the "craft" , if its the same deal as used back in May...... is a pretty crappy looking little rocket