SpaceShip Two, XCOR Lynx Prepare For Powered Flights

Posted by timothy on Thursday September 20, 2012 @08:04AM from the hope-it-all-goes-to-plan dept.

RocketAcademy writes "Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two is in the final stages of preparation for powered flight. The suborbital spacecraft, built by Scaled Composites, has successfully completed airspeed, angle-of-attack, center-of-gravity, and structural tests during unpowered glide flights. It is now on track for powered glide flights by the end of this year. Meanwhile, in the hangar next door, XCOR Aerospace continues to work on the Lynx spacecraft, expected to begin powered flight tests early next year. Some exclusive photos provide a sneak peak at things to come." Also to watch for in the world of private space launches, next month (possibly as early as the 8th), SpaceX has another launch scheduled to reach the ISS.

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Re:Privatization Working? by Spy+Handler · 2012-09-20 09:15 · Score: 5, Insightful

Subsidy does not mean what you think it means. Protip: government agency buying desktops from Dell is not a subsidy. Even though Dell is "building private profit" with your tax dollars.
Re:Privatization Working? by 0123456 · 2012-09-20 09:33 · Score: 5, Insightful

Yea, they're doing well because they've gotten the benefits of _both_ the dollars "poured into public spaceflight" AND the private subsidies. What, you think they're reinventing the rocket from the ground up?
NASA spent about the same to put a fake upper stage on a shuttle SRB and launch it into the sea as SpaceX did to develop a brand new rocket engine and two rockets and launch them into space.