While its one-time stablemate Virgin Orbit may have gone bust, Virgin Galactic is determined not to go the same way as it got back into the sub-orbital launch business with a flight on 25 May. The launch was the first in two years after a previous crewed test flight which also carried Sir Richard Branson showed a trajectory anomaly.
After a delay, the VMS Eve carrier aircraft took off from Spaceport America in New Mexico at 1515 GMT on 25 May. It released the SpaceShipTwo Unity on its Unity 25 flight over the Pacific at 1623 GMT with ignition taking place shortly afterwards. The rocket blasted itself at Mach 2.97 to 87.2 km altitude before deploying its glide feathering system for re-entry. Under international definition, the flight is not counted as a “space flight” as it did not breach 100 km Karman line limit.
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Unity feathers its wings on 25 May 2023. Courtesy: Virgin Galactic
The craft then reattached its pivoted wing to make a glide approach and landing back on the runway at Spaceport America at 1638 GMT.
Unity 25 crew were commander Mike Masucci and pilot CJ Sturckow Four Virgin Galactic employees were on the test flight: Jamila Gilbert, Christopher Huie, Luke Mays and Beth Moses.
