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The Scaled Composites Model 316, [2] known as SpaceShipOne, was a spaceplane designed to: . Carry three humans (one of them a pilot) in a sea-level pressurized cabin.; Be propelled by rocket from an altitude of 15 km (9.3 mi) to in excess of 100 km (62 mi).
The Scaled Composites Model 318 White Knight (now also called White Knight One) is a jet-powered carrier aircraft that was used to launch its companion SpaceShipOne, an experimental spaceplane. The White Knight and SpaceShipOne were designed by Burt Rutan and manufactured by Scaled Composites , a private company founded by Rutan in 1982.
It was manufactured by The Spaceship Company, a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic. SpaceShipTwo was carried to its launch altitude by a White Knight Two aircraft, before being released to fly on into the upper atmosphere, powered by its rocket engine. It then glided back to Earth and performed a conventional runway landing. [4]
In 2008, Virgin Galactic ordered two White Knight Two vehicles. [6] Together, WK2 and SS2 were to form the basis for Virgin Galactic's fleet of suborbital spaceplanes.. In November 2010, The Spaceship Company had announced that it planned to build at least three additional White Knight Two aircraft and an additional five SpaceShipTwo rocket planes, the aircraft to be built by Virgin after the ...
SpaceShipOne landing on Flight 15P SpaceShipOne Flight 15P photo Mike Melvill and Burt Rutan speak to the media after the first flight into Space. Shortly after ignition, at about 60,000 feet (18 km), the craft unexpectedly rolled 90 degrees to the left, due to wind shear. When the pilot attempted to correct it, it rolled 90 degrees to the right.
Melvill piloted SpaceShipOne on its first flight past the edge of space, flight 15P on June 21, 2004, [3] thus becoming the first commercial astronaut, and the 435th person to go into space. [4] He was also the pilot on SpaceShipOne's flight 16P , the first competitive flight in the Ansari X Prize competition.
Flight 17P of SpaceShipOne was a spaceflight in the Tier One program that took place on October 4, 2004. It was the second competitive flight in the Ansari X Prize competition to demonstrate a non-governmental reusable crewed spacecraft, and is hence also referred to as the X2 flight.
The "VSS" prefix stands for "Virgin Space Ship". VSS Enterprise was the first to fly; [40] it was destroyed in a crash on 31 October 2014. [10] [41] [42] The build of VSS Unity was about 65% complete in early November 2014, and Virgin Galactic expected it to be complete in 2015.