SpaceShipTwo flight video

Good images of the first free-flight glide test of SpaceShipTwo (SS2) on Oct 10 can be seen on this newly released video. The 60-ft long SS2 made a smooth landing at Mojave, Calif, around 11 minutes after release from the WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) mothership at an altitude of 46,000-ft. The vehicle, which will seat up to six plus two crew for sub-orbital flights, was commanded by Scaled test pilot Pete Siebold and co-pilot Mike Alsbury. In the video note how a ventral, belly-mounted speedbrake deploys to help slow SS2 on the landing roll out. Scaled confirms this is a new design feature and was tested during the descent which included speeds up to 33 KTAS and turns up to 2g.

Virgin Galactic/YouTube

URL: http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/space/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a04ce340e-4b63-4d23-9695-d49ab661f385Post%3af6bdc047-e498-4d9e-a750-90059ffefd08

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *