July 28th, 2008 by
Filed under: Transportation
It looks like the Mojave Desert is once again the center of the private space industry, with Richard Branson and crew on hand to unveil Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo spaceship carrier as promised. This craft (only the first of more that are promised) has been named EVE (after Branson’s mother) and, with a 140-foot wingspan, it’s apparently now officially the largest all carbon-composite aircraft ever made. Eventually, it’ll be used to help carry the yet-to-be-completed SpaceShipTwo craft in orbit although, as Burt Rutan himself tells Space.com, that’s still a little ways off, with him saying that while could be ready to go after just 40 tests flights, they’ll likely do a few more than that for good measure. Head on past the break for a few more pics.
Read - Space.com, “Virgin Galactic Unveils Space Liner Mothership “
Read - Wired Science, “First Look at Virgin Galactic’s New Mothership, WhiteKnightTwo”
Continue reading Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo spaceship carrier gets unveiled
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Posted in virgin galactic, VirginGalactic, white knight two, WhiteKnightTwo, white knight 2, WhiteKnight2 | No Comments »
July 26th, 2008 by
Filed under: Transportation
Hold onto your dollar bills, y’all — the WhiteKnightTwo is set to be unveiled (and swooned over) on Monday. We knew the fabled space tourism vehicle was set to be unwrapped this month, but knowing that said event is merely hours away just gets our juices flowin’. Richard Branson and “other dignitaries” are preparing to officially launch the ship at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California (a short drive from Zzyzx, we hear), and we’re still being led to believe that test flights should begin as early as this fall. Hey, at least you know what you’re doing next year if your ship comes in.
[Via The Register]
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Posted in space, launch, space tourism, space travel, SpaceTourism, SpaceTravel, travel, scaled composites, ScaledComposites, virgin galactic, VirginGalactic, WhiteKnightTwo, richard branson, RichardBranson, tourism | No Comments »
January 4th, 2008 by
Filed under: Transportation
It’s been just a few months since a test of an experimental motor for Scaled Composites’ SpaceShipTwo passenger space vehicles caused a deadly explosion at the company’s Mojave Desert facility, but we’re hearing whispers today that the craft will be unveiled on January 23rd, along with the WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane. Testing of the six-person ship will apparently start in mid-2008, with the first commercial Virgin Galactic flight tentatively scheduled for the end of 2009. That seems hopelessly optimistic to us, but then again, we’re not ones to doubt the awesome combined powers of Burt Rutan and Richard Branson.
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Posted in scaled composites, ScaledComposites, space ship two, SpaceShipTwo, virgin galactic, VirginGalactic, white knight two, WhiteKnightTwo | No Comments »
