SpaceShipTwo
The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is a retired air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism. It was manufactured by The Spaceship Company, a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic.
Key facts
- Spacecraft class.name
- SpaceShipTwo
- Spacecraft class.image
- Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo "Unity" rollout 19Feb2016, FAITH hangar, Mojave, California.jpg
- Spacecraft class.image_size
- 300px
- Spacecraft class.image_alt
- Picture of the SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity at the unveiling event in Mojave, California
- Spacecraft class.image_caption
- SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity in the Virgin Galactic Final Assembly Integration Test Hangar
- Spacecraft class.manufacturer
- Scaled Composites(VSS Enterprise)The Spaceship Company(VSS Unity)
- Spacecraft class.country
- United States
- Spacecraft class.operator
- Virgin Galactic
- Spacecraft class.applications
- Suborbital space tourism
- Spacecraft class.spacecraft_type
- Crewed spaceplane
- Spacecraft class.crew_capacity
Article
23 sectionsContents
- Design overview
- Fleet and launch sites
- Fleet history
- Launch sites
- Ships in class
- Development
- 2007 test explosion
- Rocket engine
- 2014 change of engine
- 2015: another fuel change
- RocketMotorTwo
- Test flights
- Testing VSS ''Enterprise''
- October 2014 crash
- VSS ''Unity''
- Costs
- Commercial operation
- NASA sRLV program
- Future spacecraft
- Specifications
- See also
- References
- External links
The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is a retired air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism. It was manufactured by The Spaceship Company, a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic.
SpaceShipTwo was 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. It then glided back to Earth and performed a conventional runway landing. The spaceship was officially unveiled to the public on 7 December 2009 at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. On 29 April 2013, after nearly three years of unpowered testing, the first SS2 constructed successfully performed its first powered test flight.