Scaled Composites Model 339 Space Ship Two - Machtres Fighters

The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is a suborbital horizontal-takeoff, horizontal-landing (HTHL), spaceplane for carrying space tourists, under development by The Spaceship Company, a joint venture between Scaled Composites and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, as part of the Tier 1b program. The spaceship was officially unveiled to the public on Monday, 7 December 2009, at the Mojave Air and Spaceport in California. The Virgin Galactic spaceline plans to operate a fleet of five of these craft in passenger-carrying private spaceflight service starting no earlier than 2011. A ticket costs $200,000 USD

The SpaceShipTwo project is based in part on technology developed for SpaceShipOne as part of the Scaled Composites Tier One program, funded by Paul Allen. The Spaceship Company licenses this technology from Mojave Aerospace Ventures, a joint venture of Paul Allen and Burt Rutan, the designer of the predecessor technology. SpaceShipTwo is a low-aspect-ratio spaceplane that will carry passengers to space; the capacity will be eight people: six passengers and two pilots. The apogee of the new craft will be approximately 110 km (68 miles) and in the thermosphere, 10 km (6 miles) higher than both the SpaceShipOne target (though the last flight of the SpaceShipOne reached 112 km), and the Kármán line. SpaceShipTwo will reach 4,200 km/h (2,600 mph), using a single hybrid rocket motor, which goes by the name RocketMotorTwo. It will launch at 15,200 m (50,000 ft) from its mother ship, White Knight Two, and go supersonic within 8 seconds. After 70 seconds, the rocket motor cuts out and the spacecraft will coast to its peak altitude. SpaceShipTwo's crew cabin is 3.66 m (12 ft) long and 2.28 m (7.5 ft) in diameter. The wing span is 8.23 m (27 ft), the length is 18.29 m (60 ft) and the tail height is 4.57 m (15 ft).

This aircraft article is missing some (or all) of its specifications. If you have a source, you can help Wikipedia by adding them.
SpaceShipTwo uses a feathered reentry system, feasible due to the low speed of re-entry – by contrast, space shuttles and other orbital spacecraft re-enter at orbital speeds, closer to 25,000 km/h (16,000 mph), using heat shields. It is designed to reenter the atmosphere at any angle.

SpaceShipTwo will decelerate through the atmosphere, switching to a gliding position at 80,000 ft and will take 25 minutes to glide back to the spaceport. Once the passengers return, their passports will receive a spaceflight stamp and they will be awarded their astronaut wings at an awards ceremony. They will also be able to relive their flight from footage filmed during the spaceflight.

SpaceShipTwo and its new carrier aircraft, White Knight Two, are roughly twice the size of the first generation spacecraft SpaceShipOne and mothership White Knight that won the Ansari X Prize. SpaceShipTwo will have 43 cm and 33 cm (17 and 13 in) diameter windows for the passengers' viewing pleasure, and all seats will recline back during landing to decrease the discomfort of G-forces. Reportedly, the craft can land safely even if a "catastrophic failure" occurs during flight.

Safety

During the early test phase of Space Ship Two's system on 26 July 2007 an explosion occurred during a fuel flow test at the Mojave Air & Space Port. The test included filling the oxidizer tank with 4,500 kg (10,000 pounds) of nitrous oxide followed by a 15 second cold flow injector test.[citation needed] Although the tests did not ignite the gas, three employees were killed and three injured, two critically and one seriously, from shrapnel wounds.

Burt Rutan remarked on the safety of the vehicle:
"This vehicle is designed to go into the atmosphere in the worst case straight in or upside down and it'll correct...This is designed to be at least as safe as the early airliners in the 1920s...Don't believe anyone that tells you that the safety will be the same as a modern airliner, which has been around for 70 years."

Flight test program

In October 2009, Virgin Galactic CEO Will Whitehorn outlined the flight test program for SpaceShipTwo. The test program will include seven phases: vehicle ground testing, captive carry under WhiteKnightTwo, unpowered glide testing, subsonic testing with only a brief firing of the rocket, supersonic atmospheric testing, then rocket into suborbital space, and finally execute a detailed and lengthy process with US Federal government regulator FAA/AST to demonstrate system robustness and eventually obtain a commercial launch license to begin commercial operations.

On Monday March 22, 2010, the SpaceShipTwo vehicle VSS Enterprise underwent a captive carry test flight, whereby the parent WhiteKnightTwo performed a short flight with the SpaceShipTwo being carried by the WhiteKnightTwo. A second test flight was made on May 16, 2010 The flight reached launch altitude (51,000 feet) and lasted for a duration of nearly five hours in order to facilitate "cold soak" testing of SS2's avionics and pressurization system. "A simulated spaceship descent/glide mission was made from altitude."  The SpaceShipTwo airframe was modified between captive carry flight 1 and flight 2 by the addition of two interior fins, one to the inside (rocket-side) of each of the twin vertical stabilizers.

On July 15, 2010 VSS Enterprise made its first crewed flight. The craft remained attached to VMS Eve as planned and underwent a series of combined vehicle systems tests. The flight lasted 6 hours and 21 minutes.

A second, and similar, crewed flight of VSS Enterprise and VMS Eve was carried out on 30 Sept 10 lasting 5 hours. Improving pilot proficiency was among the objectives and the results add confidence that the systems are capable of supporting future glide missions.

On October 10, 2010 VSS Enterprise made its first manned gliding test flight, after being released from VMS Eve at 45,000 feet. The second gliding test flight took place on the 28th of October 2010  and the third on Wednesday 17 November 2010.

As of December 2010, Scaled reported that the flight test program is exceeding expectations,. The fourth test flight took place in January 2011.

NASA sRLV program

As of March 2011, Virgin Galactic has submitted SpaceShipTwo as a reusable launch vehicle for carrying research payloads in response to NASA's suborbital reusable launch vehicle (sRLV) solicitation, which is a part of NASA's Flight Operations Program. Virgin projects 110 km (68 mi) altitude in flights of approximately 90 minutes duration, while carrying a research payload. Flights will provide approximately four minutes of microgravity. Payload mass and microgravity levels have not yet been specified. The NASA research flights could begin during the test flight certification program for SpaceShipTwo.

Launch siteThe SpaceShipTwo craft will take off from the Mojave Air & Space Port in California during testing. Spaceport America (formerly Southwest Regional Spaceport), a US$212 million spaceport in New Mexico partly funded by the state government, will become the permanent launch site when commercial launches begin. The company is also exploring launches from spaceports in the UK.