SpaceShipTwo, SpaceShip III, suborbital, air-launched spaceplanes designed for space tourism, Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc., Las Cruces, New Mexico,

Parabolic Arc managing editor Doug Messier was one of the first on the scene of crash site in California and tells Space.com's @TariqJMalik what he saw. Full Story:
"Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Crashes in Test Flight: 1 Dead, 1 Injured"

by Miriam Kramer, Space.com
October 31, 2014

Click to expand...

National Transportation Safety Board investigators were at the crash site in Mojave, California on Nov. 1st, 2014. Full Coverage: http://goo.gl/OCE9v6

Click to expand...

The NTSB has released video showing several angles of the doomed SpaceShipTwo flight, from initial separation from the White Knight carrier aircraft to the moment when the ‘feather’ was manually unlocked, too early in the flight, causing the accident. -- NTSB Investigates Wreckage

Click to expand...

Virgin Galactic unveiled its new SpaceShipTwo, its latest shuttle designed to more safely bring tourists on sub-orbital space flights.

Click to expand...

Today, private spaceflight company Virgin Galactic showed off the new version of its SpaceShipTwo vehicle. It’s the spaceplane the company will use to replace the old SpaceShipTwo, which crashed during a test flight in 2014. This new vehicle — called the VSS Unity — is basically identical to its predecessor, except for a few key changes meant to make it safer.

Click to expand...

On September 8, 2016, our new SpaceShipTwo--VSS Unity--took to the skies for the first time. This is first ever flight of a vehicle built by our manufacturing organization, The Spaceship Company.

In this video, Mike Moses--our Senior Vice President of Operations, and a NASA veteran who oversaw dozens of successful flights to space--helps explain this flight and how it fits into the context of our full testing program.

Click to expand...

VSS Unity, Virgin Galactic’s second SpaceShipTwo, successfully completed its first glide flight test on 3 December 2016. The flight test lasted 1 hour 20 minute, with VSS Unity in free flight for 10 minutes and achieving a maximum speed of approximately Mach 0.6 while gliding from an altitude of 15 kilometers. Both VSS Unity and the WhiteKnightTwo mothership (VMS Eve) returned safely to ground.

Click to expand...

On December 3, 2016, our new SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity, flew freely for the first time. This important test marks the first time that a vehicle built by our manufacturing organization, The Spaceship Company, has flown fully under its own control.

In this video, Lead Test Pilot, Mark "Forger" Stucky, explains what it's like flying VSS Unity for the first time.

Click to expand...

VSS Unity flew beautifully, going supersonic for the first time under rocket power in Mojave, California on 5th April, 2018.

Click to expand...

Virgin Galactic's suborbital space plane 'Unity' had its second powered flight on May 29, 2018.

Click to expand...

Watch uncut telescopic footage of VSS Unity's second supersonic rocket powered flight; from release, through boost, into feathered decent and glide

Click to expand...

VSS Unity, Virgin Galactic’s second SpaceShipTwo, completed its fifth supersonic powered test flight on 22 February 2019, reaching an apogee of 89.9km (55.85miles, 294,9007ft). VSS Unity was piloted by Virgin Galactic pilots Mark “Forger” Stucky and Frederick “CJ” Sturckow, with Beth Moses, Virgin Galactic’s Chief Astronaut Instructor, as a passenger.
Credit: Virgin Galactic

Click to expand...

On 22nd February 2019, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo flew into space at three times the speed of sound with three crew members on board.

Click to expand...

Astronaut trainer Beth Moses becomes Virgin Galactic's first passenger to fly to the edge of space. Also, we check out a new autonomous underwater drone named Orpheus, which was made to explore the deepest parts of Earth's oceans. Lastly, new research suggests that the gene-edited CRISPR babies born late last year might have changes in their cognition from the controversial procedure.

Click to expand...

Virgin Galactic is moving to New Mexico! Watch the VSS Unity and its mothership Eve land at Spaceport America.

Click to expand...

This glide flight marks the inaugural solo flight of VSS Unity in New Mexico and as such is an important flight test milestone in preparation for commercial service.

Click to expand...

Join a virtual walkthrough of SpaceShipTwo Unity's cabin, curated by our design team.
Want to fly to space with us? Join our community of Spacefarers to take One Small Step towards reserving your seat on our flights.

Click to expand...

Today’s flight landed beautifully, with pilots, planes, and spaceship safe, secure, and in excellent shape — the foundation of every successful mission!

Our flight today did not reach space as we had been planning. After being released from its mothership, SpaceShipTwo Unity's onboard computer that monitors the rocket motor lost connection. As designed, this triggered a fail-safe scenario that intentionally halted ignition of the rocket motor. Following this occurrence, our pilots flew back to Spaceport America and landed gracefully as usual.

As we do with every test flight, we are evaluating all the data, including the root cause assessment of the computer communication loss. We look forward to sharing information on our next flight window in the near future.

Click to expand...