Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane sails through third supersonic flight

Virgin Galactic sent its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, VSS Unity, through its third powered test flight today to gather more data on the craft’s aerodynamics at supersonic speeds — and to set the stage for a full-powered push across the boundary of outer space.

Unity was hooked beneath its WhiteKnightTwo carrier airplane this morning for takeoff from Mojave Air and Space Port in California. About an hour into the flight, the rocket plane was dropped into the air and fired its single hybrid rocket motor, punching upward into the sky.

In a series of tweets, Virgin Galactic reported that the craft executed a partial rocket burn, coasted through the top of the ride, and then deployed its “feathered-wing” re-entry system to slow its supersonic descent.

Virgin Galactic said pilots Dave Mackay and Mike “Sooch” Masucci guided Unity through its glide back to the Mojave airport, concluding a “successful flight.” Todd Ericson and Kelly Latimir piloted WhiteKnightTwo.

Details about the flight, including altitude and speed, are to be released later today.

Virgin Galactic’s flight test program is closing in on Unity’s first flight beyond the 100-kilometer altitude that serves as the internationally accepted boundary of outer space. (That boundary, known as the Karman Line, may someday be redrawn at a lower altitude.)

The path hasn’t always been smooth: In 2014, the first SpaceShipTwo plane, dubbed VSS Enterprise, broke up during a rocket-powered flight, killing the co-pilot and seriously injuring the pilot.

Over the past four years, Virgin Galactic has incorporated safety-related upgrades in the design of VSS Unity and changed its procedures for flight training and testing. Now the company’s billionaire founder, Richard Branson, is once again signaling that spaceflights could be coming soon.

“We spent 14 years working on our space program,” Branson told Bloomberg’s David Rubenstein in May. “It’s been tough. Space is tough. It is rocket science. … Before the end of the year, I hope to be sitting in a Virgin Galactic spaceship, going to space.”

He said about 800 people have paid as much as $250,000 to reserve a seat on the plane, which will fly out of Spaceport America in New Mexico once commercial operations begin.

Branson isn’t the only billionaire building a suborbital spaceship: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture is developing a vertical-launch craft called New Shepard. That rocket ship is currently going through uncrewed, autonomously controlled tests, and Bezos is aiming to begin flying test astronauts this year.

If all goes well, Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin is expected to announce a ticket price and start taking passenger reservations next year.

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