Virgin Galactic to Begin Motorized Testing of VSS Unity in Fall
Virgin Galactic has announced that it will begin powered test flights with the VSS Unity spacecraft in the fall. Thereafter, periodic test flights must be performed.
A Virgin Galactic spokesperson told CNN that the first powered test flights will begin in the fall. Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, said in an interview with Bloomberg that from then on, powered test flights will take place every three weeks. The plan is that the spacecraft will also leave the atmosphere during test flights in November or December.
Branson says the first paid commercial spaceflights will begin by the end of 2018. The device will eventually accommodate six space tourists, who will experience weightlessness for about five minutes. Tickets will cost $250,000 each. According to the company, the flights should eventually reach an altitude of above 100km, which is referred to as the Kármán Line. It is used to separate aviation from space travel.
No powered test flights have been conducted since an accident in 2014 involving a previous version of the aircraft, the VSS Enterprise. In this accident, the braking system activated too early, resulting in the aircraft breaking in mid-air and crashing. One test pilot was killed and another seriously injured. Before this accident in 2014, the previous version of the spacecraft had already completed 55 test flights, reaching a maximum altitude of 22km during powered flights.
In May, Virgin Galactic successfully tested an updated braking system during a non-powered glide flight with the VSS Unity. The spacecraft was uncoupled from the carrier aircraft White Knight Two at an altitude of more than 15 km. The purpose of this flight was to test the updated braking system, in which the twin tailpiece is rotated ninety degrees, creating a larger surface area. This allows a slower and safer descent through the atmosphere. The updated braking system includes a mechanical pin that should prevent the braking system from being disengaged prematurely, as happened in the accident in 2014.