Blue Origin NS-22
95-524: The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo ( SS2 ) was an air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism . It was manufactured by The Spaceship Company , a California -based company owned by Virgin Galactic . SpaceShipTwo was carried to its launch altitude by a Scaled Composites White Knight Two , before being released to fly on into the upper atmosphere powered by its rocket engine . It then glided back to Earth and performed
190-411: A is more than R /2. The specific orbital energy ϵ {\displaystyle \epsilon } is given by: ε = − μ 2 a > − μ R {\displaystyle \varepsilon =-{\mu \over {2a}}>-{\mu \over {R}}\,\!} where μ {\displaystyle \mu \,\!}
285-469: A test flight that included Richard Branson as a passenger on July 11, 2021. During this flight, the vehicle deviated from its planned flight course triggering a Federal Aviation Administration investigation into the issue. While in ascent the vehicle triggered a red warning light which indicated it had deviated from its safe flight path. On 2 September 2021, it was publicly announced that further SpaceShipTwo flight tests would be grounded by FAA mandate until
380-410: A LEO. On a 10,000-kilometer intercontinental flight, such as that of an intercontinental ballistic missile or possible future commercial spaceflight , the maximum speed is about 7 km/s, and the maximum altitude may be more than 1300 km. Any spaceflight that returns to the surface, including sub-orbital ones, will undergo atmospheric reentry . The speed at the start of the reentry is basically
475-588: A SpaceShipTwo within six months. A seventh high speed glide test was completed in January 2018. On 13 December 2018, SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity reached its highest altitude up to that point, 82.72 km (51.40 mi). This surpassed the U.S. Government definition of space at 80 km (50 mi) but not the standard used elsewhere at 100 km (62 mi). Despite the debate on where outer space begins, Mark Stucky would receive his astronaut wings, while Frederick W. Sturckow would not as he had already flown on
570-469: A change to the hybrid engine to be used in SpaceShipTwo, and took the development effort in-house to Virgin Galactic, terminating the contract with Sierra Nevada and halting all development work on the first-generation rocket engine . Virgin then modified the engine design to include a change of the hybrid rocket fuel from a HTPB to a polyamide fuel formulation. In October 2015, Virgin announced that it
665-571: A conventional runway landing. The spaceship was officially unveiled to the public on 7 December 2009 at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. On 29 April 2013, after nearly three years of unpowered testing, the first SS2 constructed successfully performed its first powered test flight. Virgin Galactic planned to operate a fleet of five SpaceShipTwo spaceplanes in a private passenger-carrying service and took bookings for some time, with
760-471: A crew of two pilots, to an altitude of 200 km (65,000 ft) using captured V-2 . In 2004, a number of companies worked on vehicles in this class as entrants to the Ansari X Prize competition. The Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne was officially declared by Rick Searfoss to have won the competition on October 4, 2004, after completing two flights within a two-week period. In 2005, Sir Richard Branson of
855-454: A distinct boundary between atmospheric flight and spaceflight . During freefall the trajectory is part of an elliptic orbit as given by the orbit equation . The perigee distance is less than the radius of the Earth R including atmosphere, hence the ellipse intersects the Earth, and hence the spacecraft will fail to complete an orbit. The major axis is vertical, the semi-major axis
950-493: A driving factor in spaceport placement because most of the delta-v for a launch is spent on achieving the required horizontal orbital speed . The small gain from a few kilometers of extra altitude does not usually off-set the logistical costs of ground transport in mountainous terrain. Many spaceports have been placed at existing military installations, such as intercontinental ballistic missile ranges, which are not always physically ideal sites for launch. A rocket launch site
1045-500: A flight is attained at the lowest altitude of this free-fall trajectory, both at the start and at the end of it. If one's goal is simply to "reach space", for example in competing for the Ansari X Prize , horizontal motion is not needed. In this case the lowest required delta-v, to reach 100 km altitude, is about 1.4 km/s . Moving slower, with less free-fall, would require more delta-v. Compare this with orbital spaceflights:
SECTION 10
#17327978045961140-581: A joint venture between Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic bought out Scaled Composites' interest in TSC in 2012, and TSC became a wholly owned subsidiary of Virgin Galactic. The launch customer of SpaceShipTwo was Virgin Galactic, who as of 2005 had publicly announced they had ordered five vehicles, but only three had been ordered by 2015. The first SS2 was named VSS Enterprise . The "VSS" prefix stands for "Virgin Space Ship". VSS Enterprise
1235-421: A joint venture of Paul Allen and Burt Rutan , the designer of the predecessor technology. SpaceShipTwo was a low-aspect-ratio passenger spaceplane . Its capacity was planned to be eight people — six passengers and two pilots. The SpaceShipTwo spaceplanes never flew with more than 6 people onboard (4 passengers, 2 pilots). The apogee of the new craft was designed to be approximately 110 km (68 mi) in
1330-511: A lift off from Texas and a simulated soft touchdown in the Indian Ocean 66 minutes after liftoff. Sub-orbital flights can last from just seconds to days. Pioneer 1 was NASA 's first space probe , intended to reach the Moon . A partial failure caused it to instead follow a sub-orbital trajectory, reentering the Earth's atmosphere 43 hours after launch. To calculate the time of flight for
1425-482: A low Earth orbit (LEO), with an altitude of about 300 km, needs a speed around 7.7 km/s, requiring a delta-v of about 9.2 km/s. (If there were no atmospheric drag the theoretical minimum delta-v would be 8.1 km/s to put a craft into a 300-kilometer high orbit starting from a stationary point like the South Pole. The theoretical minimum can be up to 0.46 km/s less if launching eastward from near
1520-765: A minimum-delta-v trajectory, according to Kepler's third law , the period for the entire orbit (if it did not go through the Earth) would be: period = ( semi-major axis R ) 3 2 × period of low Earth orbit = ( 1 + sin θ 2 ) 3 2 2 π R g {\displaystyle {\text{period}}=\left({\frac {\text{semi-major axis}}{R}}\right)^{\frac {3}{2}}\times {\text{period of low Earth orbit}}=\left({\frac {1+\sin \theta }{2}}\right)^{\frac {3}{2}}2\pi {\sqrt {\frac {R}{g}}}} Using Kepler's second law , we multiply this by
1615-633: A mock-up of the SpaceShipTwo passenger cabin at the NextFest exposition at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York . The design of the vehicle was revealed to the press in January 2008, with the statement that the vehicle itself was around 60% complete. On 7 December 2009, the official unveiling and rollout of SpaceShipTwo took place. The event involved the first SpaceShipTwo being christened by then - Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger as
1710-519: A potentially anxious co-pilot as important factors in the 2014 crash. While the co-pilot was faulted for prematurely deploying the ship's feathering mechanism, the Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation, and the ship's designers were also faulted for not creating a fail-safe system that could have guarded against such premature deployment. In October 2015, it
1805-428: A powered flight test, resulting in a crash killing one pilot, Michael Alsbury , and injuring the other. It was coincidentally the first flight to use the new type of fuel, based on nylon plastic grains. The crash was caused by a premature deployment of the feathering mechanism , which was normally used to aid in a safe descent. SpaceShipTwo was still in powered ascent when the feathering mechanism deployed. Disintegration
1900-478: A quarter of the way around the Earth, and 42 minutes for going halfway around. For short distances, this expression is asymptotic to 2 d / g {\displaystyle {\sqrt {2d/g}}} . From the form involving arccosine, the derivative of the time of flight with respect to d (or θ) goes to zero as d approaches 20 000 km (halfway around the world). The derivative of Δ v also goes to zero here. So if d = 19 000 km ,
1995-447: A reusable launch vehicle for carrying research payloads in response to NASA 's suborbital reusable launch vehicle (sRLV) solicitation, which was a part of the agency's Flight Opportunities Program. Virgin projected research flights might reach a peak altitude of 110 km (68 mi). These flights would provide approximately four minutes of microgravity for research payloads. Payload mass and microgravity levels had not been specified at
SECTION 20
#17327978045962090-486: A single hybrid rocket engine — the RocketMotorTwo . It launched from its mothership, White Knight Two , at an altitude of 13,500 m (44,300 ft), and reached supersonic speed within 8 seconds. After 70 seconds, the rocket engine cut out and the spacecraft coasted to its peak altitude. SpaceShipTwo's crew cabin was 3.7 m (12 ft) long and 2.3 m (7 ft 7 in) in diameter. The wing span
2185-459: A suborbital flight carrying a ticket price of US$ 250,000 in 2015. The spaceplane was also used to carry scientific payloads for NASA and other organizations. On 31 October 2014, during a test flight, the first SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise broke up in flight and crashed in the Mojave desert. An investigation found that the craft's descent device deployed too early. One pilot, Michael Alsbury ,
2280-471: A table of spaceports and launch complexes for vertical launchers with documented achieved launches of humans to space (more than 100 km (62 mi) altitude). The sorting order is spaceport by spaceport according to the time of the first human launch. † Three of the Soyuz missions were uncrewed and are not counted ( Soyuz 2 , Soyuz 20 , Soyuz 34 ). ‡ STS-51-L ( Challenger ) failed to reach orbit and
2375-559: Is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space , but its trajectory intersects the surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched. Hence, it will not complete one orbital revolution, will not become an artificial satellite nor will it reach escape velocity . For example, the path of an object launched from Earth that reaches the Kármán line (about 83 km [52 mi] – 100 km [62 mi] above sea level ), and then falls back to Earth,
2470-432: Is a hypersonic suborbital spaceplane concept that could transport 50 passengers from Australia to Europe in 90 minutes or 100 passengers from Europe to California in 60 minutes. The main challenge lies in increasing the reliability of the different components, particularly the engines, in order to make their use for passenger transportation on a daily basis possible. Spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome
2565-566: Is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft , by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word spaceport , and even more so cosmodrome , has traditionally been used for sites capable of launching spacecraft into orbit around Earth or on interplanetary trajectories. However, rocket launch sites for purely sub-orbital flights are sometimes called spaceports, as in recent years new and proposed sites for suborbital human flights have been frequently referred to or named "spaceports". Space stations and proposed future bases on
2660-423: Is as scientific sounding rockets . Scientific sub-orbital flights began in the 1920s when Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid fueled rockets, however they did not reach space altitude. In the late 1940s, captured German V-2 ballistic missiles were converted into V-2 sounding rockets which helped lay the foundation for modern sounding rockets. Today there are dozens of different sounding rockets on
2755-435: Is between 0 and μ 2 R {\displaystyle \mu \over {2R}\,\!} . To minimize the required delta-v (an astrodynamical measure which strongly determines the required fuel ), the high-altitude part of the flight is made with the rockets off (this is technically called free-fall even for the upward part of the trajectory). (Compare with Oberth effect .) The maximum speed in
2850-566: Is built as far as possible away from major population centers in order to mitigate risk to bystanders should a rocket experience a catastrophic failure. In many cases a launch site is built close to major bodies of water to ensure that no components are shed over populated areas. Typically a spaceport site is large enough that, should a vehicle explode, it will not endanger human lives or adjacent launch pads. Planned sites of spaceports for sub-orbital tourist spaceflight often make use of existing ground infrastructure, including runways. The nature of
2945-624: Is considered a sub-orbital spaceflight. Some sub-orbital flights have been undertaken to test spacecraft and launch vehicles later intended for orbital spaceflight . Other vehicles are specifically designed only for sub-orbital flight; examples include crewed vehicles, such as the X-15 and SpaceShipTwo , and uncrewed ones, such as ICBMs and sounding rockets . Flights which attain sufficient velocity to go into low Earth orbit , and then de-orbit before completing their first full orbit, are not considered sub-orbital. Examples of this include flights of
SpaceShipTwo - Misplaced Pages Continue
3040-468: Is defined as a missile that can hit a target at least 5500 km away, and according to the above formula this requires an initial speed of 6.1 km/s. Increasing the speed to 7.9 km/s to attain any point on Earth requires a considerably larger missile because the amount of fuel needed goes up exponentially with delta-v (see Rocket equation ). The initial direction of a minimum-delta-v trajectory points halfway between straight up and straight toward
3135-1134: Is maximized (at about 1320 km) for a trajectory going one quarter of the way around the Earth ( 10 000 km ). Longer ranges will have lower apogees in the minimal-delta-v solution. specific kinetic energy at launch = μ R − μ major axis = μ R sin θ 1 + sin θ {\displaystyle {\text{specific kinetic energy at launch}}={\frac {\mu }{R}}-{\frac {\mu }{\text{major axis}}}={\frac {\mu }{R}}{\frac {\sin \theta }{1+\sin \theta }}} Δ v = speed at launch = 2 μ R sin θ 1 + sin θ = 2 g R sin θ 1 + sin θ {\displaystyle \Delta v={\text{speed at launch}}={\sqrt {2{\frac {\mu }{R}}{\frac {\sin \theta }{1+\sin \theta }}}}={\sqrt {2gR{\frac {\sin \theta }{1+\sin \theta }}}}} (where g
3230-452: Is not counted. STS-107 ( Columbia ) reached orbit and is therefore included in the count (disaster struck on re-entry). Crewed Missions failed to reach Kármán line: Soyuz T-10a (1983) STS-51-L (1986) Soyuz MS-10 (2018) The following is a table of spaceports with a documented achieved launch to orbit. The table is sorted according to the time of the first launch that achieved satellite orbit insertion. The first column gives
3325-425: Is similar to an ICBM. ICBMs have delta-v's somewhat less than orbital; and therefore would be somewhat cheaper than the costs for reaching orbit, but the difference is not large. Due to the high cost of spaceflight, suborbital flights are likely to be initially limited to high value, very high urgency cargo deliveries such as courier flights, military fast-response operations or space tourism . The SpaceLiner
3420-412: Is the standard gravitational parameter . Almost always a < R , corresponding to a lower ϵ {\displaystyle \epsilon } than the minimum for a full orbit, which is − μ 2 R {\displaystyle -{\mu \over {2R}}\,\!} Thus the net extra specific energy needed compared to just raising the spacecraft into space
3515-447: Is the acceleration of gravity at the Earth's surface). The Δ v increases with range, leveling off at 7.9 km/s as the range approaches 20 000 km (halfway around the world). The minimum-delta-v trajectory for going halfway around the world corresponds to a circular orbit just above the surface (of course in reality it would have to be above the atmosphere). See lower for the time of flight. An intercontinental ballistic missile
3610-557: Is the major European spaceport, with satellite launches that benefit from the location 5 degrees north of the equator. In October 2003 the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center achieved the first Chinese human spaceflight. Breaking with tradition, in June 2004 on a runway at Mojave Air and Space Port , California, a human was for the first time launched to space in a privately funded, suborbital spaceflight, that
3705-454: The Earth's rotational speed (465 m/s at the equator). Such launches also provide a desirable orientation for arriving at a geostationary orbit . For polar orbits and Molniya orbits this does not apply. In principle, advantages of high altitude launch are reduced vertical distance to travel and a thinner atmosphere for the rocket to penetrate. However, altitude of the launch site is not
3800-554: The Fractional Orbital Bombardment System . A flight that does not reach space is still sometimes called sub-orbital, but cannot officially be classified as a "sub-orbital spaceflight". Usually a rocket is used, but some experimental sub-orbital spaceflights have also been achieved via the use of space guns . By definition, a sub-orbital spaceflight reaches an altitude higher than 100 km (62 mi) above sea level . This altitude, known as
3895-738: The Moon , Mars , orbiting the Earth, at Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon Lagrange points , and at other locations in the Solar System . Human-tended outposts on the Moon or Mars, for example, will be spaceports by definition. The 2012 Space Studies Program of the International Space University studied the economic benefit of a network of spaceports throughout the solar system beginning from Earth and expanding outwardly in phases, within its team project Operations And Service Infrastructure for Space (OASIS). Its analysis claimed that
SpaceShipTwo - Misplaced Pages Continue
3990-509: The Space Shuttle four times. Following a February 2019 spaceflight, VSS Unity began to undergo modifications in preparation for commercial service; this includes an upgrading the flight deck and installing a passenger cabin. It was later revealed in 2021 that VSS Unity had actually suffered a large crack in its structure during its 2019 spaceflight, requiring repair work to the vehicle. Following its return to service VSS Unity made
4085-461: The V-2 rocket , just reaching space but with a range of about 330 km, the maximum speed was 1.6 km/s. Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo which is under development will have a similar free-fall orbit but the announced maximum speed is 1.1 km/s (perhaps because of engine shut-off at a higher altitude). For larger ranges, due to the elliptic orbit the maximum altitude can be much more than for
4180-600: The Virgin Group announced the creation of Virgin Galactic and his plans for a 9-seat capacity SpaceShipTwo named VSS Enterprise . It has since been completed with eight seats (one pilot, one co-pilot and six passengers) and has taken part in captive-carry tests and with the first mother-ship WhiteKnightTwo , or VMS Eve . It has also completed solitary glides, with the movable tail sections in both fixed and "feathered" configurations. The hybrid rocket motor has been fired multiple times in ground-based test stands, and
4275-464: The flight phases before and after the free-fall can vary. For an intercontinental flight the boost phase takes 3 to 5 minutes, the free-fall (midcourse phase) about 25 minutes. For an ICBM the atmospheric reentry phase takes about 2 minutes; this will be longer for any soft landing, such as for a possible future commercial flight. Test flight 4 of the SpaceX 'Starship' performed such a flight with
4370-558: The Kármán line, was chosen by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale because it is roughly the point where a vehicle flying fast enough to support itself with aerodynamic lift from the Earth's atmosphere would be flying faster than orbital speed . The US military and NASA award astronaut wings to those flying above 50 mi (80 km), although the U.S. State Department does not show
4465-406: The Moon are sometimes called spaceports, in particular if intended as a base for further journeys. The term rocket launch site is used for any facility from which rockets are launched. It may contain one or more launch pads or suitable sites to mount a transportable launch pad. It is typically surrounded by a large safety area, often called a rocket range or missile range . The range includes
4560-586: The VSS Enterprise . On 26 July 2007, an explosion occurred during an oxidizer flow test at the Mojave Air and Space Port , where early-stage tests were being conducted on SpaceShipTwo's systems. The oxidizer test included filling the oxidizer tank with 4,500 kg (9,900 lb) of nitrous oxide , followed by a 15-second cold-flow injector test. Although the tests did not ignite the gas, three employees were killed and three injured by flying shrapnel . The hybrid rocket engine design for SpaceShipTwo
4655-406: The altitude required to qualify as reaching space. The flight path will be either vertical or very steep, with the spacecraft landing back at its take-off site. The spacecraft will shut off its engines well before reaching maximum altitude, and then coast up to its highest point. During a few minutes, from the point when the engines are shut off to the point where the atmosphere begins to slow down
4750-402: The angle that the projectile is to go around the Earth, so in degrees it is 45°× d / 10 000 km . The minimum-delta-v trajectory corresponds to an ellipse with one focus at the centre of the Earth and the other at the point halfway between the launch point and the destination point (somewhere inside the Earth). (This is the orbit that minimizes the semi-major axis, which is equal to the sum of
4845-958: The area over which launched rockets are expected to fly, and within which some components of the rockets may land. Tracking stations are sometimes located in the range to assess the progress of the launches. Major spaceports often include more than one launch complex , which can be rocket launch sites adapted for different types of launch vehicles . (These sites can be well-separated for safety reasons.) For launch vehicles with liquid propellant, suitable storage facilities and, in some cases, production facilities are necessary. On-site processing facilities for solid propellants are also common. A spaceport may also include runways for takeoff and landing of aircraft to support spaceport operations, or to enable support of HTHL or horizontal takeoff and vertical landing (HTVL) winged launch vehicles. The first rockets to reach space were V-2 rockets launched from Peenemünde , Germany in 1944 during World War II . After
SECTION 50
#17327978045964940-407: The atmosphere, switching to a gliding position at an altitude of 24 km (15 mi), and took 25 minutes to glide back to the spaceport . SpaceShipTwo and White Knight Two were, respectively, roughly twice the size of the first-generation SpaceShipOne and mothership White Knight , which won the Ansari X Prize in 2004. SpaceShipTwo had 43 and 33 cm (17 and 13 in)-diameter windows for
5035-519: The cosmodrome was initially held secret. Guesses to its location were misdirected by a name in common with a mining town 320 km away. The position became known in 1957 outside the Soviet Union only after U-2 planes had identified the site by following railway lines in the Kazakh SSR , although Soviet authorities did not confirm the location for decades. The Baikonur Cosmodrome achieved
5130-519: The craft in 2014, following 50–100 test flights. Refining the projected schedule in late 2009, Virgin Galactic declined to announce a firm timetable for commercial flights, but did reiterate that initial flights would take place from Spaceport America . Operational roll-out would be based on a "safety-driven schedule". In addition to making suborbital passenger launches, Virgin Galactic marketed SpaceShipTwo for suborbital space science missions. By March 2011, Virgin Galactic had submitted SpaceShipTwo as
5225-473: The destination point (which is below the horizon). Again, this is the case if the Earth's rotation is ignored. It is not exactly true for a rotating planet unless the launch takes place at a pole. In a vertical flight of not too high altitudes, the time of the free-fall is both for the upward and for the downward part the maximum speed divided by the acceleration of gravity , so with a maximum speed of 1 km/s together 3 minutes and 20 seconds. The duration of
5320-488: The development program before switching to a nylon-based fuel grain. They would use HTPB to power the SpaceShipTwo when it would resume flight following the loss of the initial SS2 test vehicle in October 2014. Full qualification tests remained to be completed at the time. The second-generation RocketMotorTwo engine was a variant of the earlier SNC basic design, but was fueled by polyamide plastic fuel, while continuing to use
5415-1764: The distances from a point on the orbit to the two foci. Minimizing the semi-major axis minimizes the specific orbital energy and thus the delta-v, which is the speed of launch.) Geometrical arguments lead then to the following (with R being the radius of the Earth, about 6370 km): major axis = ( 1 + sin θ ) R {\displaystyle {\text{major axis}}=(1+\sin \theta )R} minor axis = R 2 ( sin θ + sin 2 θ ) = R sin ( θ ) semi-major axis {\displaystyle {\text{minor axis}}=R{\sqrt {2\left(\sin \theta +\sin ^{2}\theta \right)}}={\sqrt {R\sin(\theta ){\text{semi-major axis}}}}} distance of apogee from centre of Earth = R 2 ( 1 + sin θ + cos θ ) {\displaystyle {\text{distance of apogee from centre of Earth}}={\frac {R}{2}}(1+\sin \theta +\cos \theta )} altitude of apogee above surface = ( sin θ 2 − sin 2 θ 2 ) R = ( 1 2 sin ( θ + π 4 ) − 1 2 ) R {\displaystyle {\text{altitude of apogee above surface}}=\left({\frac {\sin \theta }{2}}-\sin ^{2}{\frac {\theta }{2}}\right)R=\left({\frac {1}{\sqrt {2}}}\sin \left(\theta +{\frac {\pi }{4}}\right)-{\frac {1}{2}}\right)R} The altitude of apogee
5510-572: The downward acceleration, the passengers will experience weightlessness . Megaroc had been planned for sub-orbital spaceflight by the British Interplanetary Society in the 1940s. In late 1945, a group led by M. Tikhonravov K. and N. G. Chernysheva at the Soviet NII-4 academy (dedicated to rocket artillery science and technology), began work on a stratospheric rocket project, VR-190 , aimed at vertical flight by
5605-675: The early human flights, were carried out at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station . For the Apollo programme, an adjacent spaceport, Kennedy Space Center , was constructed, and achieved the first crewed mission to the lunar surface ( Apollo 11 ) in July 1969. It was the base for all Space Shuttle launches and most of their runway landings. For details on the launch complexes of the two spaceports, see List of Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island launch sites . The Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana,
5700-498: The equator.) For sub-orbital spaceflights covering a horizontal distance the maximum speed and required delta-v are in between those of a vertical flight and a LEO. The maximum speed at the lower ends of the trajectory are now composed of a horizontal and a vertical component. The higher the horizontal distance covered, the greater the horizontal speed will be. (The vertical velocity will increase with distance for short distances but will decrease with distance at longer distances.) For
5795-621: The first batch of 100 tickets. By December 2007, Virgin Galactic had 200 paid-up customers on its books for the early flights, and 95% were passing the 6-8 g centrifuge tests. That number had increased to 575 by early 2013. In April 2013, Virgin Galactic announced that the price for a seat would increase 25% to US$ 250,000 before the middle of May 2013, and would remain at US$ 250,000 "until the first 1,000 people have traveled, so that it matches up with inflation since [Virgin Galactic] started". The first paying customers had been expected to fly aboard
SECTION 60
#17327978045965890-526: The first flight flying passengers that were not Virgin Galactic employees) was Galactic 01 on 29 June 2023. The final flight of Unity was Galactic 07 on 8 June 2024. The SpaceShipTwo project was based in part on technology developed for the first-generation SpaceShipOne , which was part of the Scaled Composites Tier One program, funded by Paul Allen . The Spaceship Company licensed this technology from Mojave Aerospace Ventures ,
5985-602: The first launch of a human into space ( Yuri Gagarin ) in 1961. The launch complex used, Site 1, has reached a special symbolic significance and is commonly called Gagarin's Start . Baikonur was the primary Soviet cosmodrome, and is still frequently used by Russia under a lease arrangement with Kazakhstan. In response to the early Soviet successes, the United States built up a major spaceport complex at Cape Canaveral in Florida. A large number of uncrewed flights, as well as
6080-561: The first phase, placing the "Node 1" spaceport with space tug services in low Earth orbit (LEO), would be commercially profitable and reduce transportation costs to geosynchronous orbit by as much as 44% (depending on the launch vehicle). The second phase would add a Node 2 spaceport on the lunar surface to provide services including lunar ice mining and delivery of rocket propellants back to Node 1. This would enable lunar surface activities and further reduce transportation costs within and out from cislunar space . The third phase would add
6175-648: The first such powered flight took place on 29 April 2013. The engine produced 270 kN (61,000 lb f ) of thrust. In September 2012, Virgin Galactic announced that the unpowered subsonic glide flight test program was essentially complete. In October 2012, Scaled Composites installed key components of the rocket engine, and SpaceShipTwo performed its first glide flight with the engine installed in December 2012. The spacecraft's first powered test flight took place on 29 April 2013. SpaceshipTwo reached supersonic speeds in this first powered flight. On 5 September 2013,
6270-442: The geographical location. Operations from a different country are indicated in the fourth column. A launch is counted as one also in cases where the payload consists of multiple satellites. 4 Qaem 100 The following table shows spaceports with documented achieved launches of humans to at least 100 km altitude, starting from a horizontal runway. All the flights were sub-orbital . Spaceports have been proposed for locations on
6365-612: The glide portion of the flight was cancelled because of wind speed. Glide flights of Unity began on 3 December 2016. After several glide flights over the preceding months, in July 2017, Richard Branson suggested that the craft was to begin powered tests at three-week intervals. In September 2017, CEO George Whitesides suggested that engine testing was complete, and that only a "small number of glide flights" remained before VSS Unity would begin powered tests flights. In October 2017, Branson suggested that SpaceShipTwo could reach space within three months, and that he could travel to space aboard
6460-582: The investigation was completed. The FAA cleared SpaceShipTwo flights to resume later in September, after deciding to expand the restricted aerospace around the vehicle's flight range. The final test flight (defined as final flight with only Virgin Galactic personnel onboard) was Virgin Galactic Unity 25 mission on 25 May 2023. The first operational flight of Unity (defined as the first flight flying passengers that were not Virgin Galactic employees)
6555-475: The length of the minimum-delta-v trajectory will be about 19 500 km , but it will take only a few seconds less time than the trajectory for d = 20 000 km (for which the trajectory is 20 000 km long). While there are a great many possible sub-orbital flight profiles, it is expected that some will be more common than others. The first sub-orbital vehicles which reached space were ballistic missiles . The first ballistic missile to reach space
6650-399: The local view from 100 km (62 mi) altitude is also a factor to consider. The space tourism industry (see List of private spaceflight companies ) is being targeted by spaceports in numerous locations worldwide. e.g. Spaceport America , New Mexico. The establishment of spaceports for tourist trips raises legal issues, which are only beginning to be addressed. The following is
6745-468: The lower thermosphere , 10 km (6.2 mi) higher than the Kármán line but as of July 2021, the maximum height reached was 89.9 km. In the end, the SpaceShipTwos never broke the 100 km limit. The predecessor craft SpaceShipOne's target was also 100 km but the last flight reached an altitude of 112 km (70 mi). SpaceShipTwo was designed to reach 4,200 km/h (2,600 mph), using
6840-478: The market, from a variety of suppliers in various countries. Typically, researchers wish to conduct experiments in microgravity or above the atmosphere. Research, such as that done for the X-20 Dyna-Soar project suggests that a semi-ballistic sub-orbital flight could travel from Europe to North America in less than an hour. However, the size of rocket, relative to the payload, necessary to achieve this,
6935-445: The maximum speed of the flight. The aerodynamic heating caused will vary accordingly: it is much less for a flight with a maximum speed of only 1 km/s than for one with a maximum speed of 7 or 8 km/s. The minimum delta-v and the corresponding maximum altitude for a given range can be calculated, d , assuming a spherical Earth of circumference 40 000 km and neglecting the Earth's rotation and atmosphere. Let θ be half
7030-704: The next generation Delta-class vehicles. At the time, the only SpaceShipTwos completed and flown were the Enterprise and the Unity . SpaceShipTwo was launched from the WhiteKnightTwo launcher aircraft, which took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California during testing. Spaceport America (formerly Southwest Regional Spaceport), a US$ 212 million spaceport in New Mexico , partly funded by
7125-410: The other containing helium — in order to ensure a proper burn and shut-down of the new engine. Additional ground tests were performed on the new engine between May and October 2014. Following a series of rocket engine tests, Virgin announced in October 2015 that they would be changing the rocket motor back to hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), with a similar formulation as they used earlier in
7220-415: The passengers' viewing pleasure, and all seats reclined back during landing to decrease the discomfort of G-forces. In 2008, Burt Rutan remarked on the safety of the vehicle: This vehicle is designed to go into the atmosphere in the worst case straight in or upside down and it'll correct. This is designed to be at least as safe as the early airliners in the 1920s ... Don't believe anyone that tells you that
7315-1946: The portion of the area of the ellipse swept by the line from the centre of the Earth to the projectile: area fraction = 1 π arcsin 2 sin θ 1 + sin θ + 2 cos θ sin θ π (major axis)(minor axis) {\displaystyle {\text{area fraction}}={\frac {1}{\pi }}\arcsin {\sqrt {\frac {2\sin \theta }{1+\sin \theta }}}+{\frac {2\cos \theta \sin \theta }{\pi {\text{(major axis)(minor axis)}}}}} time of flight = ( ( 1 + sin θ 2 ) 3 2 arcsin 2 sin θ 1 + sin θ + 1 2 cos θ sin θ ) 2 R g = ( ( 1 + sin θ 2 ) 3 2 arccos cos θ 1 + sin θ + 1 2 cos θ sin θ ) 2 R g {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{\text{time of flight}}&=\left(\left({\frac {1+\sin \theta }{2}}\right)^{\frac {3}{2}}\arcsin {\sqrt {\frac {2\sin \theta }{1+\sin \theta }}}+{\frac {1}{2}}\cos \theta {\sqrt {\sin \theta }}\right)2{\sqrt {\frac {R}{g}}}\\&=\left(\left({\frac {1+\sin \theta }{2}}\right)^{\frac {3}{2}}\arccos {\frac {\cos \theta }{1+\sin \theta }}+{\frac {1}{2}}\cos \theta {\sqrt {\sin \theta }}\right)2{\sqrt {\frac {R}{g}}}\\\end{aligned}}} This gives about 32 minutes for going
7410-561: The safety will be the same as a modern airliner, which has been around for 70 years. In September 2011, the safety of SpaceShipTwo's feathered reentry system was tested when the crew briefly lost control of the craft during a gliding test flight. Control was reestablished after the spaceplane entered its feathered configuration, and it landed safely after a 7-minute flight. SpaceShipTwo (and the WhiteKnightTwo launcher aircraft) were built by The Spaceship Company , originally formed as
7505-555: The same nitrous oxide oxidizer. The second-generation engine was made in-house by Virgin Galactic rather than by SNC. By December 2012, 15 full-scale tests had been successfully conducted, and additional ground tests continued into March 2013. In June 2012, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a rocket testing permit to Scaled Composites, allowing it to begin SS2 test flights powered by RocketMotorTwo;
7600-486: The second powered flight was made by SpaceShipTwo. The first powered test flight of 2014 — and third overall — occurred 10 January 2014. The spacecraft reached an altitude of 22,000 m (72,000 ft) and a speed of Mach 1.4 (1,720 km/h; 1,070 mph). The WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft released SpaceShipTwo (VSS Enterprise ) at an altitude of 14,000 m (46,000 ft). On 31 October 2014, SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise suffered an in-flight breakup during
7695-495: The state government, became the permanent launch site for the latter part of test flight programme and for commercial launches. Two further ships were under construction by 2016. It is unclear whether these are now designated to be SpaceShip III class vehicles. As of 2024, the only SpaceShipTwo-class vehicles completed and flown are Enterprise and Unity . On 28 September 2006, Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson unveiled
7790-614: The time. Since May 2021, NASA-supported technology and systems have been tested on SpaceShipTwo. In August 2005, the president of Virgin Galactic stated that if the suborbital service with SpaceShipTwo would be successful, the follow-up SpaceShipThree would be an orbital craft. In 2008, Virgin Galactic suggested that it may develop a high-speed passenger vehicle to offer transport through point-to-point suborbital spaceflight . Data from Virgin Galactic, space.com & Popular Mechanics General characteristics Performance Sub-orbital spaceflight A sub-orbital spaceflight
7885-480: The war, 70 complete V-2 rockets were brought to White Sands for test launches, with 47 of them reaching altitudes between 100 km and 213 km. The world's first spaceport for orbital and human launches, the Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan , started as a Soviet military rocket range in 1955. It achieved the first orbital flight ( Sputnik 1 ) in October 1957. The exact location of
7980-461: Was Galactic 01 on 29 June 2023. SpaceShipTwo's total development costs were estimated at around US$ 400 million in May 2011, a significant increase over the 2007 estimate of US$ 108 million. The duration of the flights was expected to be approximately 2.5 hours, although only a few minutes of that was to be in space. The price was initially US$ 200,000. More than 65,000 would-be space tourists applied for
8075-434: Was 8.2 m (27 ft), the length was 18 m (59 ft) and the tail height was 4.6 m (15 ft). SpaceShipTwo used a feathered reentry system , feasible due to the low speed of reentry. In contrast, orbital spacecraft re-enter at orbital speeds, close to 25,000 km/h (16,000 mph), using heat shields. SpaceShipTwo was furthermore designed to re-enter the atmosphere at any angle. It decelerated through
8170-427: Was considering changing back to the original HTPB fuel. Rather than the rubber-based HTPB-fuel engine—engines that had experienced serious engine stability issues on firings longer than approximately 20 seconds — the engine would instead be based on a solid fuel composed of a type of plastic called thermoplastic polyamide . The plastic fuel was projected to have better performance (by several unspecified measures) and
8265-492: Was fired in a powered flight for the second time on 5 September 2013. Four additional SpaceShipTwos have been ordered and will operate from the new Spaceport America . Commercial flights carrying passengers were expected in 2014, but became cancelled due to the disaster during SS2 PF04 flight . Branson stated, "[w]e are going to learn from what went wrong, discover how we can improve safety and performance and then move forwards together." A major use of sub-orbital vehicles today
8360-427: Was intended to pave the way for future commercial spaceflights. The spacecraft, SpaceShipOne , was launched by a carrier airplane taking off horizontally. At Cape Canaveral, SpaceX in 2015 made the first successful landing and recovery of a first stage used in a vertical satellite launch. Rockets can most easily reach satellite orbits if launched near the equator in an easterly direction, as this maximizes use of
8455-405: Was killed; the other was treated for a serious shoulder injury after parachuting from the stricken spacecraft. The second SpaceShipTwo spacecraft, VSS Unity , was unveiled on 19 February 2016. The vehicle underwent flight testing 2016-2023. Its first flight to space (above 50 miles altitude) , VSS Unity VP03 , took place on 13 December 2018. The first operational flight of Unity (defined as
8550-487: Was observed two seconds later. As of October 2014, SpaceShipTwo had conducted 54 test flights. The spacecraft had used its "feathered" wing configuration during ten of these test flights. The National Transportation Safety Board conducted an independent investigation into the accident. In July 2015, the NTSB released a report which cited inadequate design safeguards, poor pilot training, lack of rigorous federal oversight and
8645-401: Was problematic and caused extensive delays to the flight test program. The original rocket engine design was based on hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) fuel and nitrous oxide oxidizer, sometimes referred to as an N 2 O / HTPB engine. It was developed by Scaled Composites subcontractor Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) from 2009 to early 2014. In May 2014, Virgin Galactic announced
8740-447: Was projected to allow SpaceShipTwo to make flights to a higher altitude. As of May 2014 when the version 2 engine by Virgin Galactic was publicly announced, the engine had already completed full-duration burns of over 60 seconds in ground tests on an engine test stand. The second-generation engine design also required the modification to the SS2 airframe to fit additional tanks in the wings of SpaceShipTwo — one holding methane and
8835-464: Was reported that the second SpaceShipTwo would make its first flight in 2016. VSS Unity was unveiled in February 2016. A phase of testing called " Integrated Vehicle Ground Testing " began on VSS Unity in February 2016. Between 8 September and 30 November 2016, Virgin Galactic conducted a series of captive-carry flights of Unity , including planned glide flights (1 and 3 November 2016) for which
8930-688: Was the German V-2 , the work of the scientists at Peenemünde , on October 3, 1942, which reached an altitude of 53 miles (85 km). Then in the late 1940s the US and USSR concurrently developed missiles all of which were based on the V-2 Rocket, and then much longer range Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). There are now many countries who possess ICBMs and even more with shorter range Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBMs). Sub-orbital tourist flights will initially focus on attaining
9025-546: Was the first to fly; it was destroyed in a crash on 31 October 2014. The build of VSS Unity was about 65% complete in early November 2014, and Virgin Galactic expected it to be complete in 2015. It was unveiled in February 2016 and performed its first powered flight in April 2018. The third SpaceShipTwo was expected to commence construction by the end of 2015. Unity was retired on 8 June 2024 after its final flight took place on that date, as Virgin Galactic shifted its focus to
#595404