Virgin Galactic Ends Suborbital Space Plane Test Early Written 14 December 2020
SpaceShipTwo in a captive flight configuration underneath White Knight Two | Jeff Foust; Wikipedia; CC BY 2.0
Reuters reported that Virgin Galactic “cut short a test flight of its suborbital SpaceShipTwo Unity plane on Saturday, safely returning its pilot to Spaceport American in New Mexico after the rocket motor’s ignition sequence failed to complete.” The test aimed to launch the Unity spacecraft “to an altitude as high as 50 miles to test its cabin experience and boosters in-flight.” The test was supposed “to gather crucial test data needed to advance its commercial spaceflight license with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration before flying customers for the first time next year.”
Full Story (Reuters)