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SpaceShipTwo Tests Its Rocket Engine and Goes Supersonic

Posted by samzenpus on from the up-up-and-away dept.

ehartwell writes "It's official. This morning, after WhiteKnightTwo released SpaceShipTwo at an altitude of around 50,000 feet, pilots Mark Stucky and Mike Alsbury ignited the engine for a roughly 16-second blast. After the engine cutoff, the plane coasted back to its landing back at the Mojave airport. Virgin Galactic tweeted that the pilots confirmed 'SpaceShipTwo exceeded the speed of sound on today's flight!' Its predecessor, SpaceShipOne, first went supersonic December 17, 2003."

1 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Terribly Exciting - 10 years ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Yes, stupid physics and all those pesky limits. Get out there and stay? In an utterly hostile radiation-blasted vacuum with nothing in it? What for? For the symbolism? Because that's all it is at this point.