Virgin Galactic prepares SpaceShipTwo to fly again

BURBAN, CALIFORNIA – Virgin Galactic plans to conduct a fifth test flight Feb. 20 of its suborbital spaceplane SpaceShipTwo. Weather permitting, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip Two VSS Unity will takeoff from the Mojave Air and Space Port around 7 a.m. local time (10 a.m. Eastern time).

Test flight pilots will experience “a fantastic view at apogee” and “several minutes of weightlessness to enjoy before we come back down,” David Mackay, Virgin Galactic chief pilot, said in a Feb. 19 video with the firm’s news release.

This will be the first flight since Dec. 13, when VSS Unity reached peak altitude of 82.7 kilometers, garnering astronaut wings for its pilots.

During the upcoming flight, Virgin Galactic plans to scrutinize the spacecraft’s “feather” configuration, where it folds its twin tail booms during atmospheric reentry.

“We’ll be looking at how it handles in the feather; how easy it is to control in the feather,” Mackay said.

Virgin Galactic has released few other details of the flight test except to say it is “expanding the envelope to gather new and vital data essential to future tests and operations, including vehicle center of gravity,” in its Feb. 19 news release.

source: spacenews.com