Earlier today, the VSS Unity went supersonic during crewed tests, reaching speeds of 1,220 miles per hour. It’s the first powered flight of Virgin Galactic’s new SpaceShipTwo aircraft, and the first flight since the 2014 disaster in which a pilot was killed and a co-pilot severely injured.

After detaching from the carrier mothership VMS Eve, and gliding above the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, the VSS Unity fired its rocket engines for about 30 seconds, attaining a maximum speed of Mach 1.6. The experimental spaceplane, with its crew of two, landed shortly thereafter at around 12:05 pm ET, according to Virgin Galactic. Though just a test, it’s an important milestone for the Richard Branson-led company, which aims to eventually offer suborbital flights to space tourists. 



Back on October 31, 2014, Unity’s predecessor, the VSS Enterprise, crashed, killing the pilot and badly injuring the co-pilot, who survived by deploying his parachute. An official investigation found that the craft’s braking system had been deployed prematurely by the co-pilot, resulting in the “in-flight anomaly.” All ensuing flight tests were canceled as Virgin Galactic worked to remedy the various deficiencies, both procedural and mechanical.

Two years ago, the private company introduced an updated version of the spaceplane that would replace the destroyed SpaceShipTwo craft. The Enterprise was built by aircraft developer Scaled Composites, but the updated version was manufactured by The Spaceship Company, a California-based subsidiary of Virgin Galactic.

The VSS Unity, named by the late physicist Stephen Hawking, had been undergoing engine and gliding tests over the past several months. Today’s successful test, with pilots Mark Stucky and Dave Mackay at the helm, means the company can continue to move forward with its plans.

Eventually, Virgin Galactic would like to have a fleet of these SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplanes, each capable of carrying paying customers 68 miles above the Earth’s surface—a full six miles higher than the so-called Kármán line, which is conventionally used to mark the edge of space—and back. The estimated price tag for a single trip will be $250,000, but the spaceplane could also be used to carry science equipment and measuring devices to high altitudes for NASA and other organizations. </s> VSS Unity is a part of the SpaceShipTwo class of spaceplanes designed by Virgin Galactic's Spaceship Company to be dropped from a mothership, the WhiteKnightTwo. WhiteKnightTwo carries the plane up into the air before it's released, when the Unity uses its rocket propulsion to shoot itself up to the Karman line, just shy of the very edge of space at 100 km above Earth's surface.

Unity only reaches heights of about 80 km, but it's still enough to very easily view our planet's curvature.

​SpaceShipTwo's other spaceplane, the VSS Enterprise, was instead built by Scaled Composites, but it crashed in a test flight in October 2014, killing one of its pilots and seriously injuring another.

Enterprise was designed to fly along the Karman line. Unity, which "incorporates the additional safety mechanisms adopted after the 2014 VSS Enterprise test flight accident," according to a press release, is much heavier and is not designed to reach quite those heights.

VSS Unity went through more than a year of testing prior to today's test flight, which included seven glide tests, Sputnik reported. Unity also broke the sound barrier for the first time in today's test flight, reaching a speed of Mach 1.87, or about 1,434 mph.

​WhiteKnightTwo launched from Mojave in the morning and carried Unity up to an altitude of 6,500 feet over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Once released from the mothership, Unity's pilots aimed the spaceship upwards for an 80 degree blast toward the sky. Unity used its rocket propulsion for a full 30 seconds before eventually gliding back down to the Mojave desert, making a smooth runway landing.

The flight generated "valuable data on flight, motor and vehicle performance," which Virgin Galactic's engineers are now studying. The next phase of testing is also now ready to commence, which will expand the duration of the rocket burns to their full potential under the design. </s> Virgin Galactic has successfully completed a powered test flight of its new SpaceShipTwo craft that will power tourists in to space.

The new craft is called the VSS Unity and replaces the VSS Enterprise that crashed in 2014, killing co-pilot Michael Alsbury.

Richard Branson's company released video of the test flight, which showed the craft successfully separating from the carry vehicle and using its rocket thrusters to reach supersonic speed.

The craft successfully reached an altitude of 84,271 ft before returning to Earth.

The test took place in the Mojave desert at about 8 a.m. local time, The VMS Eve carrier plane took off from Mojave, California, carrying SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity before releasing it 46,500 feet (14,000 m) above ground, Virgin Galactic said in a statement.

A rocket motor then accelerated Unity to Mach 1.87 during a 30-second rocket burn before the ship's two pilots shut it down.

"Space feels tantalisingly close now," Branson Tweeted after the test flight.

Virgin Galactic's original SpaceShipTwo vehicle broke apart during an October 2014 test flight that killed the co-pilot and seriously injured the pilot, in an accident that was ultimately attributed to pilot error. Both were employees of Scaled Composites, a Northrop Grumman subsidiary based in Mojave that built the vehicle.

The Spaceship Company, a Virgin Galactic sister firm also owned by Branson's London-based Virgin Group, built the new SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity, the second in a planned fleet of five, and took over the test-flight program from Scaled.

In 2016, the space company was granted an operating license to fly its passenger ship with the world's first paying space tourists once final safety tests are completed.

The company has not yet announced a date for the start of passenger flights but is selling tickets for a ride aboard SpaceShipTwo at $250,000 a seat.

Rides will take passengers about 62 miles (100 km) above Earth, high enough to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the curvature of Earth set against the blackness of space.

Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard tweeted: "@virgingalactic back on track. Successful powered flight, Mach 1.6. Data review to come, then on to the next flight. Space feels tantalisingly close now."

The space tourism company said in a statement: "The flight has generated valuable data on flight, motor and vehicle performance which our engineers will be reviewing.

"It also marks a key moment for the test flight programme, entering now the exciting phase of powered flight and the expansion to full duration rocket burns.

"While we celebrate that achievement, the team remains focused on the challenging tasks which still lie ahead." </s> Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity soared into space Thursday and reached an altitude of more than 270,000 feet — past the 50-mile mark the U.S. government uses to define the edge of space.

The Unity's fourth test flight began Thursday morning at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. The spaceplane was attached to its mothership, WhiteKnightTwo, before being released.

Its rocket motors were then ignited, helping to carry the spacecraft into the galaxy.

Before its descent to Earth, it reached an altitude of 271,268 feet (51.4 miles).

The craft, also known as SpaceShipTwo, was piloted by two veteran pilots, Mark "Forger" Stucky and C.J. Sturckow. Virgin Galactic's founder, Richard Branson, watched the flight from the ground with his son, Sam.

Branson had promised to start taking tourists — about 800 people have paid $250,000 each for tickets — to the edge of space by the end of the year. But this test flight over the Mojave Desert carried only a pilot and co-pilot, according to Virgin Galactic.

"We plan to burn the rocket motor for longer than we ever have in flight before, but not to its full duration," the company said ahead of Thursday's flight. "At the end stages of the rocket burn in the thin air of the mesosphere and with the speeds that we expect to achieve, additional altitude is added rapidly."

The company's goal is to get to the Kármán line, the boundary between the upper atmosphere and outer space, where future space tourists will get to look back at Earth and experience weightlessness.

"If all goes to plan our pilots will experience an extended period of micro-gravity as SpaceShipTwo coasts to apogee, although they will remain securely strapped in throughout," Virgin Galactic said before the flight. "They should also have some pretty spectacular views, which we look forward to sharing as soon as possible post flight."

In July, during its third test flight, the spaceplane reached an altitude of 170,800 feet (32.3 miles), more than halfway to the goal of reaching the edge of space.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin also intend to take space tourists up on brief suborbital flights for a substantial fee.

It's not clear if VSS Unity will be ready in time to hit Branson's goal of carrying paid customers by the end of December.

It wouldn't be the first time the entrepreneur got ahead of himself. After establishing Virgin Galactic in 2004 he said it would be ready for passengers by 2007.

This time around the company is at least hedging its bets.

"Whether we complete all our objectives during the next flight or need to wait a little longer, we remain committed to completing the final stages of this extraordinary flight test program as quickly, but more importantly as safely, as possible," Virgin Galactic said in its statement. </s> Thursday’s successful test is a milestone for Virgin Galactic’s testing program and puts the company one step closer toward its goal of ferrying tourists into suborbital space.

Space-tourism firm Virgin Galactic on Thursday conducted the first rocket-powered flight test of its new SpaceShipTwo over the Mojave Desert since a 2014 fatal accident.

The Mojave company had conducted a series of glide tests but had not fired up the spaceship’s rocket-powered motor. The spaceship, dubbed VSS Unity by the late British physicist Stephen Hawking during a 2016 ceremony, has now undergone 12 total flight tests.

Thursday’s successful test is a milestone for Virgin Galactic’s testing program and puts the company one step closer toward its goal of ferrying tourists into suborbital space for a price tag of $250,000. Four years ago, a previous version of SpaceShipTwo broke apart in midair during a powered test flight, killing one of two pilots.

The National Transportation Safety Board found that the failure was caused by premature deployment of a feather system designed to help the space plane re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. The agency later faulted that spaceship’s builder, Scaled Composites, saying the design should have protected against human error.

Since then, Virgin Galactic has moved space-plane building duties in-house and VSS Unity was built by the Spaceship Co., which operates at the Mojave Air & Space Port.

Around 8 a.m., the company tweeted that mother ship VMS Eve and the attached VSS Unity had taken off. About an hour after liftoff, Virgin Galactic tweeted that VSS Unity separated cleanly from the larger plane and that its two pilots later propelled the spaceship upward by igniting its rocket motor for a “planned partial duration burn.”

During the spaceship’s flight, it reached supersonic speeds of about Mach 1.6, according to a tweet from Virgin Galactic’s founder, British billionaire Richard Branson.

The spaceship landed around 9:15 a.m. Minutes later, Branson tweeted that the company was “back on track.” </s> Rob is a Verdict staff writer. You can reach him at robert.scammell@verdict.co.uk

Yesterday Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic test flight successfully flew to the edge of space, marking a major milestone in the commercial space race.

It is the first time VSS Unity, a SpaceShipTwo-class suborbital rocket-powered space plane, surpassed the 80km altitude at which NASA awards astronaut wings.

According to Virgin Galactic, the space plane reached a maximum height of 82.7km, giving pilots Mark ‘Forger’ Stucky and C.J Stuckrow spectacular views of the curvature of Earth.

Jet-powered aircraft WhiteKnightTwo acted as a mothership, carrying VSS Unity to an altitude of more than 43,000ft before releasing it.

Pilots Stucky and Stuckrow then ignited VSS Unity’s rocket for 60 seconds, propelling it to a top speed of Mach 2.9 – nearly three times the speed of sound.

There is no agreed international law defining the edge of space, but 100km above sea level commonly represents the boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. While VSS Unity did not pass this, previous Virgin Galactic model SpaceShipOne surpassed this in 2004.

It is a major success for Virgin Galactic after its previous SpaceShipTwo plane was destroyed during a test flight in 2014, resulting in the death of one of the craft’s two pilots.

You can watch the spectacular video of Virgin Galactic’s space flight below.

Video of Virgin Galactic space flight take off

WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo took off from the Mojave Desert in California yesterday at 10am EST.

Watch SpaceShipTwo return to Earth after the successful space flight

SpaceShipTwo also carried payloads for NASA experiments, which put the spaceship close to the full weight it would be operating at during commercial flights.

The spacecraft is fully reusable, with WhiteKnightTwo having now flown a total of 261 times and SpaceShipTwo 15 times.

Virgin Galactic says it has sold hundreds of tickets to customers priced at $250,000 a pop, but the company plans to carry out more testing before commercial flights take place.

Competitors SpaceX and Blue Origin have both sent rockets further into space, albeit without human passengers.

Read more: Commercial space race: How close are Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and Blue Origin to taking tourists to space? </s> Virgin Galactic's new spaceship climbed at supersonic speed over California's Mojave Desert on Thursday in the company's first powered flight since the fatal crash of its original rocketship in 2014.

The flight of VSS Unity was a major step forward, said the company, which plans to carry tourists on suborbital hops into the lower reaches of space where they can see the Earth far below and the stars beyond.

Virgin Galactic said the milestone marked the start of the final portion of Unity's flight test program, which began after a 2014 test flight crash of its predecessor, VSS Enterprise, that killed one of its two pilots and set back the project.

In previous test flights, Unity either remained attached to Virgin Mother Ship Eve, the specially designed jet that carries it into space, or was released to glide back to the ground without lighting its engine.

Pilots Mark "Forger" Stucky and Dave Mackay were in the cockpit of Unity as it took off from Mojave Air & Space Port at 8:02am attached to VMS Eve and climbed to an altitude of 14,173 metres over the Sierra Nevada.

Unity was released and a few seconds later its engine ignited.

The spaceship climbed steeply and went supersonic — Mach 1.87 — during the 30-second rocket burn.

With the engine shut down, Unity coasted upward to 25,686 metres.

The pilots raised the craft's unique twin-tail booms to a 60-degree angle to the fuselage to slow and stabilise Unity during the initial stages of descent, and then lowered them back to the conventional configuration lower in the atmosphere.

The runway landing was described as smooth.

The tail booms are known as "feathers" because their function is likened to the feathers of a badminton shuttlecock.

The Enterprise accident in 2014 occurred when the co-pilot prematurely unlocked the "feathers" and the ship broke apart.

Virgin Galactic noted Unity had safety mechanisms resulting from the accident.

The "feathers" concept was developed by aerospace designer Burt Rutan and demonstrated during the 2004 flights of the experimental SpaceShipOne, which was funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and was the first privately developed, manned rocket to reach space.

Unity is a follow-on production model called SpaceShipTwo, built by The Spaceship Company.

Virgin Galactic envisions a fleet operating from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

The company also plans to offer flights for research and satellite deployment. </s> Richard Branson's company Virgin Galactic conducted a supersonic test flight over the Sierra Nevada mountains of its SpaceShipTwo passenger rocket ship on Thursday, the company said, three years after a fatal accident on an earlier version of the ship.

The aircraft was a SpaceShipTwo passenger rocket ship named Unity. After being released from a carrier plane at a height of 14,000 metres, a rocket motor kicked in, pushing the speed to over 2200km per hour and a height of 25,000 metres.

This time the jet landed safely, prompting Richard Branson to tweet that "space feels tantalisingly close now."

The company has not yet announced a date for the start of passenger flights but is selling tickets for a ride aboard SpaceShipTwo at $250,000 a seat. Rides will take passengers about 100 km above Earth, high enough to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the curvature of Earth set against the blackness of space.

Virgin Galactic's original SpaceShipTwo vehicle broke apart during an October 2014 test flight that killed the crew in an accident that was ultimately attributed to pilot error. </s> Richard Branson's commercial spaceflight company Virgin Galactic literally soared to new heights during a Thursday morning test flight of its rocket-powered SpaceShipTwo space plane. It returned safely to Earth after the flight.

"SpaceShipTwo, welcome to space," the company tweeted during live coverage of the flight from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. The space claim is a bit of a gray area.

SpaceShipTwo, named the VSS Unity, hitched a ride on Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo aircraft before separating and taking off under its own power. The winged spaceship reached 51.4 miles (82.7 kilometers) above the surface of Earth and achieved a speed of Mach 2.9. The rocket motor burned for 60 seconds.

NASA says space starts at roughly 62 miles (100 kilometers) above sea level, but SpaceShipTwo's pilots likely experienced microgravity during the journey.

Virgin Galactic can argue in favor of its claim to reaching space. The US Air Force awards astronaut wings to pilots who top the 50-mile mark.

The VSS Unity carried four NASA-sponsored experiments on board, including a vibration-isolation platform and an experiment that simulates how the dusty surface of an asteroid reacts to an impact in microgravity.

Virgin Galactic intends to eventually take space tourists on flights. Branson said in July he hopes to be one of the first passengers to go for a ride.

Thursday's test flight gives Virgin Galactic a step up in the private space-tourism race. Elon Musk's SpaceX has ambitious plans to carry passengers around the moon and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is conducting rocket tests, but both rival companies have yet to carry humans into space.

NASA tweeted its congratulations to Virgin Galactic for "successfully flying to suborbital space."

This was Virgin Galactic's fourth powered test flight of SpaceShipTwo. "Overall the goal of this flight is to fly higher and faster than previous flights," Virgin Galactic said. Mission achieved.

First published Dec. 18, 8:46 a.m. PT.

Update, 9:58 a.m. PT: Adds NASA congratulations and more context on space tourism.
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo successfully completes its fourth powered test flight with VSS Unity and reaches space at an altitude of 82.7 km (51.4 mi) but does not breach the 100 km (62 mi) Karman Line.