Richard Branson’s fledgling space tourism company Virgin Galactic performed the first powered flight of its spacecraft since a fatal crash in 2014.
The spaceplane, dubbed SpaceShipTwo Unity, has performed seven glide tests since it was built in 2016. Like in those previous tests, it was carried high above the Mojave desert this morning by the company’s much bigger White Knight Two aircraft, where it was released. But this time pilots Mark Stucky and Dave Mackay fired Unity’s engines and continued skyward. The spaceplane reached supersonic speeds before the engines cut off, and then it glided down for a safe landing at the company’s spaceport back in Mojave.
The trouble with Virgin Galactic’s last powered flight had to do with the craft’s tail wings. The wings on SpaceShipTwo are adjustable so that pilots can perform a maneuver that’s known as “feathering,” which helps slow the plane as it reaches peak of its parabolic flight path. In 2014, co-pilot Michael Alsbury unlocked the tail wings early while SpaceShipTwo was still accelerating. This resulted in forces of over 9Gs, which tore the plane apart, according to a subsequent NTSB investigation. Alsbury died in the crash, and pilot Peter Siebold was severely injured.
Today’s test of Unity puts Virgin Galactic back on a path toward Branson’s goal of shuttling paying tourists on short runs up into space. When that could happen is still a source of debate.
Developing...
from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2JlspfP
The Cyber Hacker - website covers tutorials on cyber security, latest tech news, Linux & Ubuntu, programming, internet & computer hacking, how to guides, safety guides, and fixes to every day computer/internet problems. Enjoy Learning with The Cyber Hacker!
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon