Virgin Galactic Successfully Sends Its Supersonic Plane to Space

Virgin Galactic, the American Spaceflight company has sent its first ever supersonic space plane into space on Thursday.  After completing the milestone test flight, the company believes that very soon it will send tourists to space.

Dubbed as VSS Unity, the rocket-powered plane was flown by two veteran US pilots. After taking off, the pilots took the plane to an altitude of 51.4 miles which surpassed US government’s recognized limit of the 50-mile mark.

The flight operation was carried out at the Mojave Air and Spaceport, California. The plane took off at 7:11 am PT and after 8:00 am PT; the plane was separated from the main ship and lit its rocket engine, swooping directly upward.

After detaching the plane from its White Knight two (mother ship), the pilots commanded the plane’s release in 43,000 feet in the air. Few seconds after coasting, the rocket engine fired on and burnt for around a minute and took the vehicle directly upward three at the speed of sound (nearly three times more).

Since it already took powered test flights earlier, VSS unity has completed its fourth test. This time, the company is confident enough to roll out commercial missions as the test mimicked flight paths for commercial missions.

Virgin Galactic is working really hard towards the launch of its commercial flight mission since 2004.