SpaceShipTwo makes another glide test over California

(From the AP) Virgin Galactic’s six-passenger spaceship has performed a second glide test after being dropped from its mothership over the Mojave Desert. Builder Scaled Composites LLC says in a summary on its website that the latest flight of SpaceShipTwo was conducted Thursday and all objectives were met.

SpaceShipTwo made its first unpowered flight on Oct. 10 at Mojave Air & Space Port. The program is progressing toward tests in which the craft will fire its rocket motor.

Virgin Galactic plans to fly tourists on brief suborbital flights at a cost of $200,000 per person.

Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson said last week that a deal with the Abu Dhabi investment fund Aabar Investments has successfully closed, securing funding for the rest of the development program.