Virgin Galactic's Space Plan Reaches New Heights (Video)



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  Virgin Galactic's Space Plan Reaches New Heights (Video)

Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spacecraft flies over the Earth during the third rocket flight on July 26, 2018. [19659003] Source: Virgin Galactic [19659004] Virgin Galactic's sub-orbital spacecraft, VSS Unity, has soared to new heights, thanks to a new video.

Unity performed its third rocket test flight yesterday (26 July), reaching a maximum altitude of 170,800 feet (52,060 meters) and a maximum speed of Mach 2.47. (Mach 1 is the speed of sound, about 767 mph, or 1235 km / h, at sea level.)

Neither Unity nor its predecessor, VSS Enterprise, had ever climbed so high, said representatives of Virgin Galactic. [Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity Spaceliner in Pictures]

The new video compresses the flight in 2.5 minutes visually stunning. Viewers see the Unit swept into the air above the Mojave Harbor of Air and Space in Southern California by the plane's WhiteKnightTwo mothership called VMS Eve

The unit started to fly freely at 14 '170 m altitude. captures the dramatic fall: the winged spacecraft moves away for a moment to the Mojave Desert ground, before the rocket engine aboard the plane sounds life and projects Unity up and down. up

"Sooch" Masucci – and all of us, by proxy – to see the curvature of the Earth against the darkness of space. "19659005" This is a view of a million dollars by the window, Dave, "says Masucci in the video, who presents shots in the cockpit of the two pilots who drive the vehicle. [19659009] Mackay and Masucci quickly drove Unity home safely, The video ends with the landing of the space plane at the air and space port of Mojave, while the audience applauds the return of the aircraft.

Unity is the second SpaceShipTwo vehicle that Virgin Galactic is developing to transport paying customers and scientific payloads on short suborbital space.The first edition, Enterprise, broke out during a flight. in October 2014, killing co-pilot Michael Alsbury and injured pilot Peter Siebold

The first two Unity rocket-propelled flights took place in April and May this year. are continuing well, the space plane l could soon start his commercial flights – perhaps even before the end of the year, said Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic.

Hundreds of passengers have already booked a spaceship seat. Tickets are currently selling for $ 250,000 each

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us on @Spacedotcom Facebook or Google+. Document originally published on Space.com

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