VSS Enterprise was the first of the two SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplanes, a crewed vehicle designed for space tourism and research flights and operated by Virgin Galactic. It was built by Scaled Composites as the successor to the SpaceShipOne design, and it flew air-launched from the White Knight Two carrier aircraft, firing a single hybrid rocket motor before gliding home to a conventional runway landing. Its maiden flight, an unpowered crewed glide test, took place on 10 October 2010, and it made its first powered flight on 29 April 2013, reaching supersonic speed. The vehicle was destroyed on 31 October 2014 during a powered test flight, when the feathering system deployed prematurely and the aircraft broke up in a fatal accident. The second vehicle, VSS Unity, was built afterwards by The Spaceship Company.
Facts
Status
Status (category) Connections
Operated By
Source VSS Enterprise (Orbit Codex)
In the Other Atlases
Manufactured By
Also in Business Atlas: the manufacturer of this subject.
Source VSS Enterprise (Orbit Codex)Development and ProgramQuote, Development and Program
The first vehicle, VSS Enterprise, was manufactured by Scaled Composites.
Sources
1. VSS Enterprise (Orbit Codex)
Timeline, 2010
VSS Enterprise conducted its maiden flight on 2010-10-10, which was its first crewed, unpowered gliding test flight after release from its carrier aircraft.
Timeline, 2014
The first vehicle, VSS Enterprise, was destroyed during a powered test flight on 2014-10-31 due to a premature deployment of its feathering system, resulting in a fatal accident.
Development and Program
The first vehicle, VSS Enterprise, was manufactured by Scaled Composites.
Operated By: Virgin Galactic, Introduction
built by Scaled Composites (VSS Enterprise), The Spaceship Company (VSS Unity) and operated by Virgin Galactic
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