Private spaceship makes first crewed flight




A private suborbital spaceship built for the space tourism firm Virgin Galactic made its first flight with a crew onboard Thursday as it soared over California's Mojave Desert beneath its enormous mothership.


Quote from the article:

The commercial spaceliner called VSS Enterprise, one of the company's fleet of SpaceShipTwo spacecraft did not try to reach space in the test flight. Instead, it stayed firmly attached to its WhiteKnightTwo VMS Eve mothership.



The two crew members riding onboard VSS Enterprise evaluated all of the spacecrafts systems and functions during the 6-hour, 12-minute flight, Virgin Galactic officials said in a statement. In addition, automated sensors and ground crews conducted thorough vehicle systems tests. ( Photos from the SpaceShipTwo test flight.)

"Objectives achieved," Virgin Galactic officials said in a statement on the company's website. "Congratulations to the whole team!"



Source: Private spaceship makes first crewed flight

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