SpaceShipTwo is carried to its launch altitude by a Scaled Composites White Knight Two, before being released to fly on into the upper atmosphere powered by its rocket engine.
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15 Facts About SpaceShipTwo
2.
SpaceShipTwo project is based in part on technology developed for the first-generation SpaceShipOne, which was part of the Scaled Composites Tier One program, funded by Paul Allen.
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3.
SpaceShipTwo uses a feathered reentry system, feasible due to the low speed of reentry.
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4.
SpaceShipTwo is furthermore designed to re-enter the atmosphere at any angle.
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5.
SpaceShipTwo are built by The Spaceship Company, originally formed as a joint venture between Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic.
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6.
Launch customer of SpaceShipTwo is Virgin Galactic, who as of 2005 had publicly announced they had ordered five vehicles, but only three had been ordered by 2015.
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7.
The third SpaceShipTwo was expected to commence construction by the end of 2015.
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8.
SpaceShipTwo is launched from the WhiteKnightTwo launcher aircraft, which takes off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California during testing.
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9.
The event involved the first SpaceShipTwo being christened by then - Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger as the VSS Enterprise.
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10.
Hybrid rocket engine design for SpaceShipTwo has been problematic and caused extensive delays to the flight test program.
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11.
In May 2014, Virgin Galactic announced a change to the hybrid engine to be used in SpaceShipTwo, and took the development effort in-house to Virgin Galactic, terminating the contract with Sierra Nevada and halting all development work on the first-generation rocket engine.
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12.
The second-generation engine design required the modification to the SS2 airframe to fit additional tanks in the wings of SpaceShipTwo — one holding methane and the other containing helium — in order to ensure a proper burn and shut-down of the new engine.
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13.
In October 2012, Scaled Composites installed key components of the rocket engine, and SpaceShipTwo performed its first glide flight with the engine installed in December 2012.
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14.
SpaceShipTwo was still in powered ascent when the feathering mechanism deployed.
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15.
In October 2017, Branson suggested that SpaceShipTwo could reach space within three months, and that he could travel to space aboard a SpaceShipTwo within six months.
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