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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Mojave a Magnet for Space Tourist

Virgin Galactic is back in the business of space travel after the unveiling of a new ship at the Mojave Spaceport on Feb. 19. The new SpaceShipTwo, named VSS Unity, replaces the suborbital space vehicle that fatally crashed during a test flight in October 2014. Unity is the first vehicle to be fully constructed at the Spaceship Co., a Virgin Galactic subsidiary at the Mojave Spaceport in the Antelope Valley. Virgin Galactic is developing SpaceShipTwo to take passengers up to an altitude of 62 miles above Earth to experience weightlessness. About 700 people have signed up to fly on the six-passenger craft, which would launch out of New Mexico. Tickets cost roughly $250,000. Chief Executive George Whitesides said completing the SpaceShipTwo was a big step toward the goal of opening space to people from all walks of life. “Outer space is the province of all humanity and we think it is about time that all of humanity has a chance to explore it,” Whitesides said in a prepared statement. The unveiling event also featured Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson and members of his immediate family; actor Harrison Ford; and a recorded message from physicist Stephen Hawking, who named the ship Unity. Marco Caceres, senior space analyst and director of space studies for aerospace research firm Teal Group, in Fairfax, Va., said for Virgin Galactic to show the public its space vehicle is safe, it should start test flying soon. While the first SpaceShipTwo underwent extensive testing, most of the flights didn’t use the rocket engine. Instead, the vehicle was dropped from a carrier aircraft and glided down, Caceres said. “What they need to do is fly with power as often as possible,” he said. Additionally, the company needs to talk less and tamp down expectations created by Branson, a larger-than-life personality, Caceres noted. While the company founder is key to generating excitement about space tourism, past pronouncements from him about when Virgin Galactic would take up paying passengers never materialized. “Given that he has had an accident, I think he needs to be more cautious,” he said. The first SpaceShipTwo was built by Scaled Composites, a subsidiary of aerospace giant Northrop Grumman Corp. On Oct. 31, 2014, the vehicle crashed minutes into a test flight, scattering pieces across miles of empty Mojave Desert scrub. Co-pilot Michael Alsbury was killed in the crash while pilot Peter Siebold was injured. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that Scaled Composites had not ensured that test pilots were aware of the dangers of unlocking a descent mechanism early, which caused the crash, nor had the company used technology to protect against human error. – Mark R. Madler

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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