{"id":1829,"date":"2010-10-12T12:00:55","date_gmt":"2010-10-12T01:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therefinedgeek.com.au\/?p=1829"},"modified":"2010-10-12T10:24:13","modified_gmt":"2010-10-11T23:24:13","slug":"spaceshiptwo-flying-solo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therefinedgeek.com.au\/index.php\/2010\/10\/12\/spaceshiptwo-flying-solo\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceShipTwo, Flying Solo."},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ll be the first to admit that I have a massive nerd crush on any private space company that’s demonstrated working hardware. Long time readers of this blog will know that there are two in particular: Virgin Galactic<\/a> and SpaceX<\/a>. Most recently all of my love has been directed to SpaceX as they began to make waves with their Falcon 1 and 9 rockets but it’s been a while since we heard anything about Virgin Galactic’s craft, SpaceShipTwo. Three months ago saw them flying a full crew aboard both the VSS Enterprise and Mothership Eve so we knew they were in the thick of testing and verifying all of their flight systems. Still even the extremely head of Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson, hadn’t made any statements about the progress of the craft.<\/p>\n

That was until just recently, however.<\/p>\n

Flicking through my Twitter feed this morning I noticed quite<\/a> a few<\/a> articles<\/a> popping<\/a> up mentioning SpaceShipTwo. As it turns out the sub-orbital craft made its first solo flight after be released from it’s mothership at 45,000 feet and gliding back down to earth<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was one of the most exciting days in the whole history of Virgin,\u201d said Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic. \u201cFor the first time since we seriously began the project in 2004, I watched the world\u2019s first manned commercial spaceship landing on the runway at Mojave Air<\/a> and Space Port and it was a great moment. Now, the sky is no longer the limit and we will begin the process of pushing beyond to the final frontier of space itself over the next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a critical milestone in Virgin Galactic\u2019s test program and a great day<\/a> for the commercial spaceflight<\/a> industry,\u201d added John Gedmark, Executive Director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. \u201cAt the end of the day, getting hardware off the ground is what it\u2019s really all about. Today\u2019s SpaceShipTwo test flight marks another key milestone towards opening the space frontier for private individuals, researchers, and explorers. Congratulations to the entire SpaceShipTwo team.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Virgin Galactic has since released a video of the flight in question:<\/p>\n