July 19, 2010 —Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic came closer to their first suborbital passenger flights as VSS Enterprise (SpaceShipTwo) flew for the first time with a crew over California’s Mojave Desert.
As planned during the July 15 flight, the spaceship remained attached to the mother ship, VMS Eve, for the entire 6 hour and 12 minute flight. The two crew members on board VSS Enterprise — Peter Siebold and Michael Alsbury —evaluated all of the spaceship’s systems and functions “from end to end,” according to the company’s blog. Mark Stucky, Peter Kalogiannis and Brian Maisler flew VMS Eve.
“Objectives achieved,” stated the company’s blog. “Congratulations to the whole team!”
It was the 33rd flight for Eve, which made an appearance at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in 2009.
VSS Enterprise made its first "captive carry" flight back in March, after being unveiled to the public in December 2009. According to the Virgin Galactic Web site, more than 340 people have already put down deposits to experience space for themselves. The suborbital space flights cost $200,000.
The mother ship, which is designed to carry six fare-paying passengers and two pilots, will allow passengers to experience weightlessness and have a great view of Earth. While the first test flights are being flown from Mojave, California, Virgin Galactic is building a terminal for space tourism flights at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
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Virgin Galactic’s VSS Enterprise completed its first crewed flight on July 15 over California’s Mojave Desert.
Photo credit: Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic’s flight lasted 6 hours and 12 minutes and the team noted in their blog “objectives achieved.”
Photo credit: Virgin Galactic
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