Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Virgin Galactic Unveils SpaceShipTwo

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the slashdot-accepting-evaluation-tickets dept.

RobGoldsmith writes to tell us that Virgin Galactic has unveiled their latest take on manned space travel for the immediate future: SpaceShipTwo. The craft comes complete with matching mothership, WhiteKnightTwo, and will be officially unveiled today in the Mojave Desert just after dark. "Subject to certain US regulatory requirements that will guide the unveiling, SS2 will be attached to her WK2 mothership which was last year unveiled and named EVE after Sir Richard Branson's mother. In the future, WK2 will carry SS2 to above 50,000 feet (16 kilometers) before the spaceship is dropped and fires her rocket motor to launch into space from that altitude. In honor of a long tradition of using the word Enterprise in the naming of Royal Navy, US Navy, NASA vehicles and even science fiction spacecraft, Governor Schwarzenegger of California and Governor Richardson of New Mexico will today christen SS2 with the name Virgin Space Ship (VSS) ENTERPRISE. This represents not only an acknowledgment to that name’s honorable past but also looks to the future of the role of private enterprise in the development of the exploration, industrialization and human habitation of space."

5 of 260 comments (clear)

  1. That's cool, but... by starglider29a · · Score: 4, Funny

    The display on NCC-1701x that shows several ships and a Space Shuttle prototype is now inaccurate... unless Gary Seven sabotages the Virgin craft... hmmm....

  2. Re:Enterprise, sure! by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Space...The final frontier to make money. These are the Voyages of the VSS Enterprise...it's 30-minute a week mission to make orbital space as much of a tourist destination as the Carribean...

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  3. Re:Whodathunk by JWSmythe · · Score: 4, Funny

        Well...

        * Hobbyist watch repairs as a teenager.
        * Machinist in Detroit.
        * Steam engine repairs for Westinghouse.
        * Engineer at Edison Illuminating Company (promoted to chief engineer)

        Kinda sounds like the type of guy who could build a car. :) Not that I like Fords though, I prefer GM vehicles. :)

    --
    Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
  4. Re:First Ship! by sopssa · · Score: 4, Funny

    You're right, Virgin Space Ship does indeed make the 40 year old geeky technicians sound bad.

  5. Re:Whodathunk by FMZ · · Score: 5, Funny

    You have obviously never listened to Pink Floyd after smoking marijuana.