Wikipedia

Virgin Galactic

American spaceflight company

Virgin Galactic is a spaceflight company founded by the English billionaire Richard Branson in 2004.

"Virgin Galactic's new "Delta" class space planes are [... supposed to fly] no earlier than 2026", according to media (in 2024).[1][2][3]

History

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A mother ship and its spaceplane (the middle fuselage)
 
A mother ship without its spaceplane. This mother ship is White Knight Two. It was made by Scaled Composites (a company)
 
Looking from underneath: a mother ship and its spaceplane (the middle fuselage).

The rocket plane Unity, was retired in 2024.

The SpaceShip III (SS3 or SS III) is no longer being developed (as of 2024). Earlier (March 2021), it was shown, but the first one - the VSS Imagine - has not flown [as of 2024].[4]

Flights

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  • In May 2021 one of the company's spaceplanes took people into space.[5][6]
  • On 11 July 2021, Richard Branson and three employees were passengers on a flight, up to an altitude of 86 km (53 mi); the flight had two pilots.[7] However, the rocket plane Unity flew outside restricted airspace;[8][9] That happened for 1 minute and 41 seconds. The Federal Aviation Administration allowed [any] SpaceShipTwo rocket plane to fly again [from] September 2021, after deciding to expand (or make larger) the restricted airspace around the vehicle's flight range.[10]
  • In May 2023, the company's fifth spaceflight happened.
  • In June 2023, the rocket plane Unity was in space for 13:50 minutes. It came to a distance from Earth of 85 km (≈52 mi), and top speed was Mach 2.88. Galactic 01 is the name of the flight.
  • In August 2023, the rocket plane Unity was in space. It came to a distance from Earth of 88 km (≈55 mi). Galactic 02 is the name of the flight. Six people were onboard: the chief, the pilot, 3 tourists and an instructor for those space tourists.[11]
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References

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  1. ↑ https://www.space.com/virgin-galactic-delta-class-space-plane-factory-arizona. Retrieved 2024-09-07
  2. ↑ Natalie Clarkson (7 July 2022). "Virgin Galactic announces Boeing's Aurora will build new motherships". Virgin Galactic. Virgin Group.
  3. ↑ Sheetz, Michael. "Virgin Galactic unveils ‘VSS Imagine,’ the first of its next-generation spaceship series", CNBC, March 2021. (retrieved 21 July 2022)
  4. ↑ "Virgin Galactic Unveils VSS Imagine, The First SpaceShip III In It's Growing Fleet". 30 March 2021. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  5. ↑ "Virgin Galactic rocket plane flies to edge of space". BBC News. 2021-05-22. Retrieved 2021-05-25.
  6. ↑ "Virgin Galactic провела первый запуск своего космического корабля с людьми на борту". AIN.UA (in Russian). 2021-05-24. Retrieved 2021-05-25.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Howell, Elizabeth (10 July 2021). "Meet the crew launching on Virgin Galactic's 1st fully crewed flight Unity 22". Space.com. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  8. ↑ Shepardson, David (2 September 2021). "U.S. Aviation agency probes Branson's Virgin Galactic flight deviation". Reuters.
  9. ↑ Shepardson, David (2021-09-02). "U.S. bars Virgin Galactic rocket plane flights pending mishap probe". Reuters.
  10. ↑ Foust, Jeff (2021-09-29). "FAA clears Virgin Galactic to resume SpaceShipTwo flights".
  11. ↑ https://www.space.com/virgin-galactic-galactic02-launch-time. Retrieved 2023-08-10

Other websites

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