Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo

The Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo is a suborbital spaceplane currently under development to become the successor to SpaceShipOne. Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic will operate using a small fleet of five of these craft.

Related Topics:
Scaled Composites - Suborbital - Spaceplane - SpaceShipOne - Richard Branson - Virgin Galactic

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According to an interview with designer Burt Rutan, the craft will fly higher and have a longer downrange than SpaceShipOne, 100 or 200 miles. The maximum capacity will be seven paying passengers with the assistance of two pilots.

Related Topics:
Burt Rutan - Downrange

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The BBC reports that SpaceShipTwo's crew cabin will have about the same diameter as a Gulfstream V business jet, which is roughly 6 feet high and 7 feet wide. Rutan is designing towards a maximum altitude of between 84 and 87 miles (135-140 km). The design of the first of these craft will be complete in 2005, construction will begin in 2006, and the first suborbital test flights are expected in 2007. In 2008, the first paying customers are expected to fly aboard the craft.

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Both SpaceShipTwo and its new carrier aircraft, Eve, (or White Knight Two) will be roughly twice the size of the first generation spacecraft and mothership that won the Ansari X Prize. While details remain scant, designer Burt Rutan says that SpaceShipTwo will have extremely large porthole windows for the passengers' viewing pleasure, and all seats will recline back during launch to help decrease the effects of painful G-forces. All passengers will be allowed to fly without the aid of special space suits like NASA astronauts, and the experience will be similar to a high-altitude passenger jet.

Related Topics:
White Knight Two - Ansari X Prize

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Virgin Galactic reports at a news conference at August 2005 that the public will catch their first glimpse of SpaceShipTwo "very soon," but they say that it won't be this year, but some time early next year.

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In August 2005, the president of space tourism company Virgin Galactic stated that if the upcoming suborbital service with SpaceShipTwo is successful, the follow-up SpaceShipThree will be an orbital craft.

Related Topics:
August 2005 - SpaceShipThree

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