Latest test saw SpaceShipTwo deploy its twin tail sections in a way to allow it to gently return to Earth's atmosphere from the vacuum of space.
After plunging towards Earth at a near-vertical angle, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo completed its latest test flight as plans to send tourists into space edged ever closer.
The 'maiden feathered flight' of SpaceShipTwo saw the rocket bend its wings into a near-right angle landing position after descending from 52,000ft.
SpaceShipTwo was lifted 6,000ft higher than during its last test flight in October, before an 11-minute descent demonstration which included 75 seconds in its 'feathered' mode.
As SpaceShipTwo descended almost vertically through the sky, it was slowed by the drag of the folded tail, similar to the way feathers slow a badminton shuttlecock.
Virgin Galactic's rocket plane deployed its twin tail sections in a position created to allow it a soft return to the Earth's atmosphere from the vacuum of space.
The craft, which was captured by ground photographers with high-powered telescopes, descends at 15,500ft per minute in its near-vertical state.
During the test, SpaceShipTwo did not fire its rocket engine for a climb into space. Instead, a mothership lifted it to 52,000 feet where it was released.
It then rotated its twin tail booms upward 65 degrees during the test flight yesterday in the Mojave Desert, California, Virgin Galactic said.
The latest test was hailed as a success by experts, with Will Pomerantz, Virgin Galactic vice president for special projects, tweeting soon after: 'What an awesome way to start the day. SpaceShipTwo looked positively beautiful today on her maiden feathered flight!'
The reconfiguration will be a critical part of the spaceship's descent through Earth's atmosphere after suborbital trips into space.
At 34,000 feet, pilots returned SpaceShipTwo to its normal configuration and landed it like an airplane.
The demonstration from release to touchdown lasted 11 minutes, including 75 seconds in the 'feathered' mode.
'It flew stably,' said Virgin Galactic chief executive George Whitesides.
SpaceShipTwo is based on Burt Rutan's award-winning SpaceShipOne prototype, which became the first privately financed manned rocket to reach space in 2004.
Rutan retired last month from Scaled Composites, a company he founded that built and is testing SpaceShipTwo for Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.
SpaceShipTwo's unique re-entry has been touted by aerospace experts as a way to overcome the problem of searing heat that other types of spacecraft face when they plunge back into the atmosphere at high speed.
NASA's space shuttles need a layer of thermal tiles and Russia's Soyuz rockets employ heat shields to insulate against damage during re-entry.
Another key test for SpaceShipTwo will come when engineers start powered flights into space, expected sometime this year.
Until now, all the tests have been unpowered glide flights.
No date has been set for the first commercial flight from a custom-built spaceport in New Mexico.
Some 410 people have paid the full $200,000 or a deposit for a chance to experience a few minutes of weightlessness, according to Virgin Galactic.
COMMENTARY: I have been reporting on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two or VSS Enterprise's progress since March 2010, when I first learned about Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic--the first company for "space tourists". For $200,000 per person, Virgin Galactic Enterprise will rocket you into the edge of outer space six at a time, where you will be able to experience the weightlessness of outer space for about two minutes before Enterprise gently floats back down to Earth. It's one of the coolest commercial space enteprises, and even at $200,000 per seat, Branson claims there over 400 space tourists waiting in line to be the first non-astronauts to experience outer space.
In previous blog posts dated March 11, 2010, October 23, 2010 and October 11, 2010 I profiled Virgin Galactic and its progress. Below is an animated video showing Virgin Galactic's VSSEnterprise attached to Mother Ship Eve as it takes off from the ground. When Eve reaches the right height, Enerprise is detached and its rocket engine is lit to rocket its passenger's into outer space, where they are able to experience weightlessness for a couple of mintues, before Enterprise gently floats back down to Earth.
You can view pictures of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two on the Virgin Galactic website.
Courtesy of an article dated May 5, 2011 appearing in Mail Online
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