Introducing SpaceShipTwo
Undock and Launch: At 50,000 ft, SpaceShipTwo will be released from the mother ship and the space ship's rocket will ignite, treating the six fee-paying tourists to an exhilarating rollercoaster ride straight up to the Earth's thermosphere. The single rocket engine is designed to accelerate the craft to a top speed of 2,600 mph.
Image: Artist's impression of SpaceShipTwo dropping from the mother ship just before igniting its rocket (Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites).
Awesome Apogee: After climbing beyond an altitude of 62.1 miles, SpaceShipTwo will have crossed the Kármán line, the official boundary between the upper atmosphere and space. Above this point, the passengers aboard SpaceShipTwo will become space tourists.
SpaceShipTwo will continue to power to a maximum altitude of 65 miles -- also known as "apogee" -- where the space tourists will experience several minutes of weightlessness.
Image: SpaceShipTwo at apogee. At this altitude, the wings are folded into a feathered position in preparation for re-entry. This method allows for stability as SpaceShipTwo descends through the atmosphere. Although the concept of feathering was conceived in the 1950's, it was Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan who (in 2004) demonstrated its feasibility in the Ansari X PRIZE winning SpaceShipOne suborbital spacecraft (Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites).
The Descent: Having reached maximum altitude and enjoyed floating around the cabin, the space tourists will buckle themselves back up in preparation for the return to Earth.
Still in the "feathering" position, SpaceShipTwo's wings will provide optimized air resistance, making the spacecraft fall through the atmosphere like a shuttlecock. As SpaceShipTwo falls to an altitude of approximately 13 miles, the wings will fold back out into "glider mode" so the pilot can glide to the landing strip.
Image: The rear of SpaceShipTwo with wings in the feathered position (Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites).
Up and Down: Over the course of 2.5 hours, SpaceShipTwo's space tourists will have been treated to a round-trip into space and back.
Image credit: Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites
A Comparison: Although SpaceShipTwo will be unveiled on Dec. 7, its predecessor had already explored suborbital space to claim the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE on Oct. 4, 2004. Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne caught the eye of Virgin's Richard Branson and now the planned fleet of five SpaceShipTwo's will be manufactured by Burt Rutan's company for Virgin Galactic.
Image: SpaceShipTwo measures 60 ft long, over double the length of SpaceShipOne's 28 ft length (Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites).
Rocket Testing: In May, the first phase of SpaceShipTwo rocket engine testing was completed in the Southern Californian desert by Scaled Composites and Sierra Nevada Corporation. According to Virgin Galactic, as the spaceship will be launched high in the atmosphere, far less fuel is required to blast tourists into space when compared with more conventional systems.
"This means much less fuel is required, and the fuel burn is more environmentally benign than the solid rockets used in most ground based systems," the company said in a press release.
Image credit: Virgin Galactic.
Under Construction: The most recent images of SpaceShipTwo included this photograph of the fuselage plus nose cone before it was spray-painted and wings were attached in the Scaled Composites warehouse.
Image credit: Scaled Composites.
A Spaceship With A View: During construction, the spacious interior of SpaceShipTwo was already apparent. Several porthole-like windows measuring up to 17 inches in diameter will provide a broad view of the suborbital journey. The cabin measures an ample 7.5 ft diameter by 12 ft length, more than enough room for the occupants to float around and enjoy the view when the craft reaches maximum altitude.
