Virgin Galactic’s first commercial spaceship makes maiden flight

(From the L.A. Times) Commercial space travel moved a little closer to reality Monday when Virgin Galactic’s mother ship and rocket plane took to the skies for its first “captive carry” test flight at the Mojave Air and Space Port.

The carrier aircraft, which resembles a flying catamaran because of its two fuselages, and the six-passenger rocket plane, dubbed SpaceShipTwo, are beginning a test flight program that will continue until Virgin believes it can begin commercial operations.

Instead of launching a rocket into space, the carrier craft will fly SpaceShipTwo under its wing to 50,000 feet, where the spaceship will separate and blast off.  The craft will climb to about 60 miles above the Earth’s surface. At that suborbital altitude, passengers will experience weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth. The price for the experience: $200,000.

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