Commercial Spaceship Flies Free in First Glide Test, page 1

Commercial Spaceship Flies Free in First Glide Test

Isn't she all kinds of purdyful?

PLANET GREEN: See amazing images of Earth from space.

Sunday's flight clears spaceship builder Scaled Composites to begin rocket-powered flights next year, and test flights in space in late 2011 or early 2012.

Virgin Galactic, which is selling rides on the spaceship for $200,000, has collected $50 million in deposits from 370 customers so far. If all goes well, passenger service could begin by the end of 2011.

WATCH VIDEO: The Sexiest Spaceship Ever: Richard Branson talks to Discovery News' Irene Klotz about his latest innovation.

VSS Enterprise is a six-passenger, two-pilot ship closely modeled on Scaled's prototype vehicle, SpaceShipOne, which won the $10 million Ansari X Prize competition in 2004 for the first -- and so far only -- privately funded, piloted spaceflights.

"The VSS Enterprise was a real joy to fly, especially when one considers the fact that the vehicle has been designed not only to be a Mach 3.5 spaceship capable of going into space but also one of the world's highest altitude gliders," Pete Siebold, who piloted the ship during Sunday's test flight, said in a statement.

"Our challenge going forward will be to complete our experimental program, obtain our FAA licence and safely bring the system into service at Spaceport America, New Mexico," added Virgin Galactic CEO George

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OOPS....Didn't see the other thread! YIKES!

edit on 11-10-2010 by KIZZZY because: (no reason given)