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SpaceShipTwo is a suborbital spaceplane currently under development by The Spaceship Company, a joint venture between Scaled Composites and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, as part of the Tier 1b program. The Virgin Galactic spaceliner plans to operate a fleet of five of these craft in passenger-carrying private spaceflight service starting in 2008. The first spacecraft to be completed will be named VSS (Virgin Space Ship) Enterprise in honor of the fictional Starship Enterprise, and have the FAA registration number N400K (refers to the target altitude of 400,000 feet, approx. 76 miles, or 121.92 kilometers). The SpaceShipTwo craft is based on technology developed for SpaceShipOne as part of the Scaled Composites Tier One program, funded by Paul Allen. The Spaceship Company is licensing this technology from Paul Allen's Mojave Aerospace Ventures. According to an interview with designer Burt Rutan, the new craft will fly higher and have a longer downrange than SpaceShipOne, 100 or 200 miles. The maximum capacity will be eight people: six paying passengers and two pilots. The BBC reports that SpaceShipTwo's crew cabin will have about the same diameter as a Gulfstream V business jet, which is roughly 6 feet high and 7 feet wide. Rutan is designing towards a maximum altitude of between 84 and 87 miles (135-140 km). The design of these craft was completed in late 2005, and the vehicle simulator was complete and construction had started by March 2006 for the passengers' viewing pleasure, and all seats will recline back during landing to help decrease the discomfort of G-forces. All passengers will be allowed to fly without the aid of pressure suits (unlike NASA astronauts) and the experience will be similar to a high-altitude passenger jet. Reportedly, the craft can land safely even if "catastrophic damage" occurs during the flight. In August 2005, the president of space tourism company Virgin Galactic stated that if the upcoming suborbital service with SpaceShipTwo is successful, the follow-up SpaceShipThree will be an orbital craft. On September 28, 2006 Sir Richard Branson unveiled a mock-up of the SpaceShipTwo at the Javits Convention Center in New York.
Spacecraft Five vehicles have been ordered by Virgin Galactic. As of September 2006, only one has been named, the Virgin Space Ship Enterprise, and is in development. Launch site According to a December 2005 interview with Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson, the SpaceShipTwo craft will initially take off from the Mojave Spaceport in California. Spaceport America (formerly Southwest Regional Spaceport), a $200 million spaceport in New Mexico partly funded by the state government, will become the permanent launch site starting in 2009. The company has also shown interest in building spaceports in other parts of the world, including Florida, Saudi Arabia and Scotland. However, the likelihood of these other launching points depends on the success of the initial spaceports in Mojave and New Mexico and Guatemala. Related content Related development: Scaled Composites Model 316, Scaled Composites Eve Designation sequence: SpaceShipOne - SpaceShipTwo - SpaceShipThree | ||||||||
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