Virgin makes it to the edge of space (video)

Jonathan Amos BBC Science Correspondent; Pfc. Sandoval, A. Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Virgin Galactic rocket plane flies to the edge of space and back

(BBC) In this video the carrier or "mother plane," Eve, releases its Unity vehicle to begin its ascent.

Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space plane has conducted the first of three key test flights to enter commercial service.

Unity, with pilots Dave Mackay and CJ Sturckow at the controls, powered to a height of 55 miles (89 km) then glided down to Earth.

Sir Richard has some 600 paying customers -- including movie and music stars -- waiting to take the same ride. But they'll only get their chance once Unity is fully licensed. That ought, finally, to happen by year's end.

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The licensing process is the responsibility of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that will now receive operational and performance data from Saturday's sortie high above the New Mexico desert.

Officials will want to see, for example, that an electronic interference issue that aborted a previous flight attempt in December has been corrected. On the evidence of Saturday's successful flight, it has been.

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The mission followed the usual pattern. Unity was carried to 44,000 feet (13 km) in altitude by its "mother" aircraft, Eve, before being released to ignite its rocket motor.

The vehicle then climbed rapidly to the edge of space, achieving a speed three times the speed of sound (Mach 3) along the way.

It was the sixth time Unity had conducted a powered ascent in its five-year test program, although this one was particularly noteworthy.

This is because it was the first such demonstration to run out of what will be its operational home -- the purpose-built commercial hub known as Spaceport America. More + PHOTOS