The Coolest Photo Yet of SpaceShipTwo In Flight BY JASON PAUR04.04.13

The Coolest Photo Yet of SpaceShipTwo In Flight

• BY JASON PAUR
• 04.04.13
• 4:34 PM

Photo: Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo has made its first flight in months, which is noteworthy both because they tested the nitrous system on board and because Sir Richard Branson’s PR people provided a really cool photo of the glider passing by the moon.

Wednesday’s nine-minute glide flight was the 24^th made by Virgin Galactic since 2010 and the second time it has flown with the airframe and rocket engine configured as it will be for upcoming powered flights. Virgin made the test flight at Mojave Air and Space Port in southern California, which is home to Scaled Composites, the company helping Branson’s dream of suborbital adventures take flight.

Beyond making further evaluation of the powered airframe configuration, the pilots also tested the nitrous loading and venting system while SpaceShipTwo was still on the pylon where it attaches to WhiteKnightTwo, the four-engine aircraft that will carry the ship skyward. Nitrous oxide is used as the oxidizer for SpaceShipTwo’s solid fuel rocket engine and this first test of the system is a major step on the way to igniting the rocket for powered flight. The pilots also engaged the “feather” system during the most recent flight, which effectively folds the aircraft allowing it to slow down during reentry from suborbital space.

It was SpaceShipTwo’s first flight since December, when pilots had their first chance to fly the glider with the rocket nozzle and other aerodynamic tweaks we’ll see when the aircraft makes its first powered flight.

Eventually passengers will be on board and moments after the release the pilots will ignite the rocket motor boosting the aircraft out of the atmosphere as it becomes a spacecraft on a suborbital flight past 328,000 feet (100 km). Passengers will enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness, floating around the cabin, as well as a great view from the blackness of space.

There is no official word on when the first powered flight will take place, though only one more glide flight is expected before the rocket is ignited for the first time.