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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."

3 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Next step by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    So after exceeding the speed of sound the next step is the speed of light? ;-)

    1. Re:Next step by bkmoore · · Score: 3, Funny

      The speed of sound at mean sea level 15C, or the speed of sound in a vacuum? There's a big difference.

    2. Re:Next step by ArcadeMan · · Score: 5, Funny

      What do you mean? A woosh at sea level or in a vacuum?

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