At the International Space Development Conference (ISDC) in Orlando, Florida today Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn said that he “could confirm” that SpaceShip Two (SS2) would fly before the end of the year and that he hoped the SS2 could be air launched by its mothership WhiteKnight Two (WK2) prototype Eve and glide back to Earth
Whitehorn also confirmed that Eve would overfly the 19 June ground breaking ceremony of Spaceport America in Las Cruces on a non-stop round trip and that the mothership would fly into the EAA Airventure, Oshkosh, air show on 28 July and carry out demonstration flights during that week
He also spoke about the completion of firing tests for what he called “rocket motor two,” video of which can be seen here. Speculating further on the future Whitehorn talked about bio-butanol based fuel produced by algae being used by WK2’s Pratt & Whitney Canada 308A engines
Hyperbola watched Whitehorn’s ISDC presentation via spacevidcast.com
