Virgin Galactic unveils SpaceShipTwo

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Virgin Galactic unveils SpaceShipTwo, the world's first manned commercial spaceship
December 7, 2009, Virgin Galactic

SpaceShipTwo (SS2) and its mothership, VMS Eve (WhiteKnightTwo) herald a new era in commercial space flight with daily space tourism flights set to commence from Spaceport America in New Mexico after test program and all required US government licens



Virgin Founder, Sir Richard Branson and SpaceshipOne (SS1) designer, Burt Rutan, today reveal SS2 to the public for the first time since construction of the world’s first manned commercial spaceship began in 2007. SS2 has been designed to take many thousands of private astronauts into space after test programming and all required U.S. government licensing has been completed.

The unveiling represents another major milestone in Virgin Galactic’s quest to develop the World’s first commercial space line providing private sector access to space using an environmentally benign launch system for people, payload and science. The spaceship draws on the experience developed during the successful flights of SS1 in 2004, which won the Ansari X-Prize for completing the world’s first manned private space flights. The SS2 design will be refined and completed during an extensive test flying program to commence shortly, and it will be an entirely new vehicle capable of carrying up to 6 passenger astronauts and up to 2 pilot astronauts into space on a sub-orbital flight.



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Bransons rymdskepp

Aftonbladet: Publicerad: 2009-12-07

”Det finns gott om utrymme för lek med noll g-krafter”
Nu visar miljardären Richard Branson upp sitt nya rymdskepp.
Med Spaceship Two kan turister få sig en tur i rymden – de som har råd vill säga.
En biljett går på minst 1,4 miljoner kronor.
På måndagen visades Virgin Galactics Spaceship Two (SS2) för första gången upp för världspressen och 300 blivande resenärer i Mojaveöknen mellan Los Angeles och Las Vegas.
De 300 förväntansfulla har redan betalat ett förskott på 140 000 kronor för sina biljetter till rymden. Totalt ska de hosta upp 1,4 miljoner kronor.

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Test flight for Virgin space rocket

Page last updated at 21:05 GMT, Tuesday, 23 March 2010

Virgin's tourist space rocket has completed its inaugural test flight over the Californian Mojave desert.
The spaceship was strapped to the mother aircraft for the three-hour test flight and reached an altitude 45,000 ft.
Tests will continue on the VSS Enterprise until 2011, before the first commercial flights take place.

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