An unbelievable footage, filmed in 2011, shows a really unusual formation, including an Airbus 320 and White Knight Two carrying the SpaceShipTwo, disintegrated over Mojave desert few days ago.
On Apr. 6, 2011, Virgin America A320 named “My Other Ride is a Spaceship” flew beside Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo carrying SpaceShipTwo over San Francisco to celebrate Virgin America’s new terminal at SFO airport.
The following footage was filmed from aboard the Airbus, as the “mothership” and an accompanying Beechcraft Baron 58 chase plane rejoined on the liner’s left wing, in a rendez-vous reminding that of the receivers on an aerial refueler, to take some cool images of the rather unusual formation.
With a service ceiling of 60,000 feet, the jet-powered cargo aircraft used to lift the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft to a release altitude of 50,000 feet, features two fuselage, one of those is an exact replica of that of SpaceShipTwo to allow tourist training.
On Oct. 31, during a first test over Mojave desert, SS2 disintegrated in flight, seconds after release from White Knight Two. Although the cause of the incident is still being investigated, NTSB team revealed that an uncommanded feather deployment occurred 9 sec. after ignition of the hybrid rocket, possibly overstressing the airframe until it collapsed.
H/T Stefano Perer/Flapa for the heads-up
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo crashed in Mojave Desert after experiencing an in-flight “anomaly” earlier today.
On Oct. 31, during the first test of a new hybrid rocket motor at Mojave, California, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) crashed causing, based on current news reports, 1 dead and 1 seriously injured pilot.
Today’s flight, the first since January, was aimed at testing a new fuel mixture for the SS2’s hybrid rocket engine. The suborbital, air-launched spaceplane designed for space tourism at 250K USD a seat, spent more than three hours on the Mojave runway before the go ahead for launch for given at 09.19 AM Local Time.
About 45 minutes later, the aircraft was released by WhiteKnightTwo mothership, at an altitude of 50,000 feet. Witnesses reported the aircraft suffered a failure after separation from the mothership. It then blew up and separated in several parts.
On Jan. 10, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, completed its third rocket-powered test flight.
During the flight, the space plane “broke” the sound barrier and reached an altitude of 71,000 feet – the highest in a spate of recent test-runs.
The new video recorded during the last test flights lets you watch the launch from the “mothership” and the subsequent acceleration and climb from several points of view and to understand how the entire procedure develops.
Along with commercial space shuttles, Richard Branson is also working on a vehicle, dubbed LauncherOne, that could go around the world at 80,000 mph in 80 minutes and could be used to put a satellite into space at a cost under 10 million USD.
