Here's a selection of photos from last Thursday's flight of WhiteKnightTwo, the second in the much-anticipated flight test program for Virgin Galactic's pioneering VMS Eve. According to Virgin's Will Whitehorn, the plane climbed as high as 18,000 on this flight.
After spending well over an hour to the north of the field, WK2 and Robert Shearer's Beech Starship chase plane (the same one that chased SpaceShipOne) came in for a low pass down runway 26, a touch-and-go down runway 12 before landing on 12 (a noticable cross-wind had come up during the flight).
This has become somewhat of a classic shot...heading back to the barn after a successful test flight, Mojave wind turbines in the distance.
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2 comments:
One thing I never saw explained...
Aside from structural reasons, what's the second fuselage used for on White Knight?
Currently, on this flight test aircraft, it really does nothing (even the "windows" that you see are fake, just vinyl stickers), but on production aircraft, VG has said that ticket holders will ride in it for zero G training, and even get to ride in it during SS2 launches (hence the planned windows on the top of the fuselages).
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