New SpaceShipTwo first flight delayed until 2016
In the heat of competion: Virgin Galactic has now conceded that there will not be any test flights of their new SpaceShipTwo ship in 2015.
The company is now promising that commercial flights will follow the 2016 test program in 2017. Wanna bet?
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
In the heat of competion: Virgin Galactic has now conceded that there will not be any test flights of their new SpaceShipTwo ship in 2015.
The company is now promising that commercial flights will follow the 2016 test program in 2017. Wanna bet?
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
No clouds in your crystal ball on this one!
If its still using a hybrid engine it will never carry a paying passenger.
Doug Messier’s article was not so optimistic, either.
I suspect that Virgin Galactic will use their original fuel — allowing only the disappointing 50-mile altitude — and continue experimenting with other fuels or engines so that later they can get to higher, more desirable altitudes. They seem to be under a lot of pressure from financiers and passengers to get a safe ride operational sooner rather than later, and using the disappointing — but understood — fuel would be the best and safest option, right now.
Whether they can finish their test regimen inside of 12 months is a good question, and it probably depends upon all tests going well, without any requirements for modifications to the craft.