 Mark Greenberg / Virgin Galactic |
The SpaceShipTwo rocket plane is attached between the twin fuselages of its WhiteKnightTwo carrier airplane, as seen from below during Monday’s test flight from California’s Mojave Air and Space Port. |
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane took to the air for the first time this morning from California’s Mojave Air and Space Port.
The craft, which has been christened the VSS Enterprise, remained firmly attached to its WhiteKnightTwo carrier airplane throughout the nearly three-hour test flight. It will take many months of further tests before SpaceShipTwo actually goes into outer space. Nevertheless, today’s outing marks an important milestone along a path that could take paying passengers to the final frontier as early as 2011 or 2012.
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