Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo test flight – Feb.22.2019

[ Updates:

12:14 pm EST: Max altitude is reportedly ~~294,000 feet, or 89.6 km, or 55.7 miles~~. [Update: 295,007 feet, or 89.9 km, or 55.87 miles.]

12:08 pm EST: The SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity is back safely on the ground after a second successful powered flight to the edge of space. Official apogee not yet announced. Unity definitely achieved 50+ miles, which crosses the USAF/NASA definition for the boundary altitude to space.

11:56 am EST: The motor has finished firing and the vehicle reached Mach 3.

11:55 am EST: Unity has been released and its motor is firing.

11:28 am EST: The WK2/SS2 combo should reach the launch altitude in about half an hour and release the SS2 for its powered test flight. There are three crew persons on the SS2 today:

We have a 3rd crew member in the cabin of SpaceShipTwo today, Chief Astronaut Instructor, Beth Moses. She will provide human validation for the data we collect. Including aspects of the customer cabin and spaceflight environment from the perspective of people in the back. pic.twitter.com/WiUxhuf2zv

— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) February 22, 2019

VG also says Moses is “She’s an expert micro-gravity researcher who’s completed over 400 zero g parabolic flights in 4 different aircrafts.”

11:08 am EST: The WK2/SS2 combo has taken off:

Take off! WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo have taken to the skies as our team watch on below.

— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) February 22, 2019

*WhiteKnightTwo VMS Eve and SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity take off from Mojave space port.*

]

Virgin Galactic plans to fly SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity to the edge of space today. This will be the fifth rocket powered flight and the second to to go to 80+ kilometers in altitude. Currently, the schedule has the WhiteKnightTwo with the SS2 hung beneath it taking off from Mojave Air & Space Port at 8:00 am PST local time (11:00 noon EST).

Here is a diagram of the test: