SpaceShipTwo’s First “Feathered” Flight Marks Latest Milestone for Virgin Galactic “Early on Wednesday 4th May 2011, in the skies above Mojave Air and Spaceport CA, SpaceShipTwo, the world’s first commercial spaceship, demonstrated its unique reentry ‘feather’ configuration for the first time. This test flight, the third in less than two weeks, marks another major milestone on the path to powered test flights and commercial operations. SpaceShipTwo (SS2), named VSS Enterprise, […]

Video: Cockpit screen view: NASTAR SpaceShip Two Centrifuge Simulation of 100% Acceleration Profile This video is from a 11 May 2011 centrifuge run at the NASTAR center with SwRI scientist Cathy Olkin in the cockpit. The view simulates what one would see on a suborbital flight profile aboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip Two. These centrifuge rides are an integral feature of the NASTAR Center’s suborbital scientist astronaut training program. Video: External […]

NASTAR Suborbital Scientist Astronaut Training: Full Acceleration Flight Profile Centrifuge Runs (archived video) Keith’s note: My three centrifuge runs – Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two flight profiles – one at 50% acceleration and two at 100% acceleration – starts at 51:50 in the archived webcast. As you can see, we all had a great time. Let me tell you, the experience of pulling 6Gs is utterly exhilarating. With the proper training […]

Space science: Along for the ride, Nature “Three days after Discovery ‘s launch … two planetary scientists are talking with a group of fellow researchers about what should come next. Sipping his drink, Daniel Durda laments that after half a century, only about 500 people have flown in space. Access to humanity’s final frontier is still restricted to people employed by a handful of powerful governments and corporations, plus the […]