After a three to four year hiatus, Virgin Galactic just sent SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity 45,000 feet into the air.
The flight took off on April 5. Like the last two spaceship tests, SpaceShipTwo was mounted to a carrier aircraft. When the ship reached its peak altitude, it disengaged from the mothership and made its way over the Mojave Desert. The difference between this test and the last two? The pilot was able to fire up VSS Unity’s rocket engine.
This test follows a tragic crash of VSS Enterprise in 2014, which led to one of the pilot’s death.
Virgin Galactic’s main focus is to be able to carry passengers past the Karman Line, an imaginary line where spacy begins. It costs $250,000 to reserve a seat on this galaxy trip. Yikes! But fortunately, those interested still have time to save up for it while Virgin Galactic enters the final phase of testing.
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