VSS Enterprise / SpaceshipTwo unveiled
VSS Enterprise, the Virgin Galactic rocketplane which will take tourists to space for $200,000 a trip, was unveiled today. VSS Enterprise is the name of the Virgin Galactic spaceshiptwo-class suborbital class craft that will carry a total of eight people – two pilots and six passengers.
Actual flights of the VSS Enterprise SpaceShipTwo are expected to begin in 2011.
Photo: Richard Branson
SpaceShipTwo is the successor to the SpaceShipOne. You can read our earlier stores on the construction of SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo or our first ever story on the Virgin Galactic announcement
The SpaceshipTwo is suspended between the cabins of the mothership, VMS Eve. Virgin Galactic named the mothership “Eve’ after the name of its founder Richard Branson’s mother.
See photos of the VSS Enterprise alongside.
VSS Enterprise photo
The SpaceshipTwo is launched by the VMS Eve, from where VSS Enterprise will fire its hybrid engine and enter suborbital space. The VSS Enterprise will be the first private commercial space flight.
Photo: Burt Rutaan, designer of VSS Enterprise SpaceShipTwo
The unveiling of the VSS Enterprise is a significant step for Richard Branson’s dream project to send tourists to space. The entire program of space travel on VSS Enterprise takes three days, including training. The actual flight will be a few minutes, and the passengers get to enjoy weightlessness and get a view of the curvature of the Earth for just four minutes. The main man – the brains of the project – is Burt Rutan, who is the designer of SpaceshipOne and the rest of the spacecraft.
The VSS Enterprise is under development in a joint venture between Richard Branson’s Virgin group and Scaled Composites. The spaceship Company is the joint venture firm which owns and operates the project.
The VSS Enterprise will carry six passengers and two pilots. Virgin says that the cabins are also made in such as to facilitate experiments in space, if need be. There will be five vehicles in the VSS Enterprise fleet.
The test flights of VSS Enterprise will start soon. The company has already held several rocket engine tests. The safety clearances and government permissions have come through. The company is likely to hold scores of VSS Enterprise test flights before the first commercial SpaceshipTwo flight.
The name VSS Enterprise is adapted from USS Enterprise, which was the spaceship featured in Star Trek. Branson offered a free flight ticket to Mr William Shatner, who played the role of the captain of USS Enterprise in the epic movie. However, he turned it down, saying he’d like to go up; but he wants a guarantee that he will come down.
The VSS Enterprise is being unveiled at a ceremony in Mojave desert in California state. The governors of California and New Mexico, along with Branson’s daughter will be part of the naming ceremony for VSS Enterprise.
Whiteknighttwo, the carrier aircraft and Spaceshiptwo, the passenger aircraft, have been made entirely of carbon composites, which makes them light yet durable. The eco-friendly carbon composites are seen as a key component of future aircraft and spacecraft. The WhiteKnightTwo will have four aircraft engines from Pratt & Whitney, while the SpaceshipTwo will have a single hybrid motor, which is still under development.
The development of VSS Enterprise has not been without setbacks. An accident in a nitrous oxide tank killed three people during the development of the VSS Enterprise. The project slowed and the company was asked to pay a hefty fine.