Commercial Space Travel, Coming Soon?

30 Apr, 2013

The rocket-powered supersonic flight of Virgin Galactic’sSpaceShipTwo passen on Monday marked a big milestone for the company, and for the private spaceflight industry as a whole.

The history-making SpaceShipTwo test flight on Monday (April 29) marked Virgin Galactic’s entrance into the final phase of vehicle evaluation prior to commercial suborbital service from Spaceport America in New Mexico, officials said.

“It is really a stupendous day,” said Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson, who witnessed the flight from California’s Mojave Air and Space Port. “So, big grins all over our faces after many years of hard work,” he told SPACE.com in an exclusive interview.

Branson said that everything went 100-percent according to plan, with SpaceShipTwo’s hybrid rocket motor blasting away on a 16-second burn on its first-ever in-flight test. “The pilots said it was as smooth as anything,” he said.

The early morning flight and its success didn’t immediately bring out the Champagne bottles, Branson said, “but I’ve drunk an awful lot of coffee.”

Also on hand for the flight was veteran aerospace designer Burt Rutan, the retired founder and chairman emeritus of Scaled Composites, which built SpaceShipTwo. He was chief designer of SpaceShipOne which in 2004 claimed the $10 million Ansari X Prize as the world’s first privately developed piloted spacecraft.

“It went well and represented a significant milestone in the development of the Virgin Galactic commercial spaceplanes,” Rutan told SPACE.com.

Next for SpaceShipTwo: Moving faster

Regarding Monday’s (April 29) flight and what now follows, Branson was upbeat. SpaceShipTwo, he said, is now ready to go to greater and greater speeds, extrapolating upwards.

“We know it’s going to be okay now,” Branson said. “This was the most important test … one that we had to get through to make sure that the spaceship and the rocket worked comfortably together.”

According to SpaceShipTwo’s hybrid motor supplier, Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC), the powered flightwent exactly as planned.

“It went smooth. No problems,” Mark Sirangelo,corporate vice president for SNC’s Space Systems, told SPACE.com.

Another engine is ready to go for SpaceShipTwo’s next flight and should ship within the next few weeks, Sirangelo added.

Virgin Galactic’s successful powered flight of the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane takes the company closer to the completion of its test program, and to final licensing by the Federal Aviation Administration.

“Achieving powered flight for SpaceShipTwo was a critical step in VirginGalactic’s final testing and a major milestone for the company,” said Christine Anderson, executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority.

“Today’s successful powered flight means we are getting closer to the day when the first Virgin Galactic passenger flight will be taking place from Spaceport America in New Mexico,” she added.

Virgin Galactic is the anchor tenant for Spaceport America, the first purpose-built commercial spaceport in the world.

Phase One of the spaceport’s development is now reaching completion, and includes the Gateway to Space Terminal Hangar Facility, the Spaceport Operations Center, the 12,000-foot (3,658 meters) runway and supporting infrastructure.

While it’s too early to say that SpaceShipTwo should have nothing but clear sailing from here on, Branson added that “it was a big, big milestone today.”

Branson said that, ultimately, Virgin Galactic wants to bring down the $200,000 seat price for flights aboard SpaceShipTwo. But he added that, in the near term, seat prices are going up.

“In about a week’s time, we’re going to put the price up to $250,000 until the first 1,000 people have traveled,” Branson said, “so that it matches up with inflation since we started.”

Branson said that the seat price tag won’t go above $250,000. “We felt that, for the sake of those [first] 600 people who signed up … we ought to be charging inflation.”

Space.com

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