by David Todd | Apr 6, 2018 | Commercial human spaceflight, Space tourism, Virgin Galactic
The Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, VSS Unity, has restarted test flights two years after the fatal test flight that killed co-pilot Mike Alsbury. A combination of pilot error and poor design were blamed for the premature feathering of the wing. The craft,...
by David Todd | Aug 3, 2016 | Commercial human spaceflight, Personal spaceflight, Virgin Galactic
After a full safety analysis of the vehicle, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA-AST) has awarded Virgin Galactic an operator license for its suborbital SpaceShipTwo rocketplane. The award will eventually...
by David Todd | Jul 28, 2015 | Commercial human spaceflight, Personal spaceflight, Space tourism, Suborbital, Technology, Virgin Galactic
The premature in-flight deployment of the feathered tail plane speed braking system was the primary cause of the destruction of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo (VSS Enterprise) on 31 October 2015, the formal investigation into the accident has concluded. The US...
by David Todd | Oct 31, 2014 | Commercial human spaceflight, Seradata News, Virgin Galactic
In a tragic accident, would-be suborbital space tourism operator, Virgin Galactic, has suffered a total failure of its SpaceShipTwo passenger carrying vehicle during a test flight. The air-dropped spaceplane broke apart shortly after ignition of its hybrid rocket...
by David Todd | Jul 12, 2012 | commercial launch services, Personal spaceflight, Seradata News, Space tourism
Farnborough 2012 was characterised by shower clouds, air displays (the A380 is flying) and Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. Courtesy: Flightglobal/David ToddDespite displays by and order annoucements for Airbus and Boeing aircraft, the Farnborough...
