Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Space tourism draws ever closer


Here's a great video of SpaceShipTwo's latest test flight over New Mexico.  It's scheduled to carry its first paying passengers later this year.  I recommend watching it in full-screen mode.





Wish I could afford to take a trip aboard her . . .

Peter

5 comments:

Rolf said...

Cool. What's the sparks / lightning / string or whatever shipping around the nozzle around 1:20 or so, and a little later when viewed straight back from the fuselage around 1:50?

Old NFO said...

Those are some interesting little gyrations both in pitch and roll during the pitch up... Makes me wonder about control authority...

Rev. Paul said...

That looks like fun. Given the ability & $$$ to do so, I'd go in a New York minute.

Paul said...

Pretty bird. Looks like a good ride, but I do not need to be one of the first, but maybe some day.

On a Wing and a Whim said...

Rolf: at a good guess, this thing's basically a glider on re-entry. Gliders tend to have a string (or several) that tell the pilot which way the airflow is going over the nose, to they can correct for being the tiniest bit askew. (Instant response, too - no instrument lag to string in the airflow.) Therefore, I'd hazard it's a string, for the same purpose.

OldNFO - makes me wonder how much air they've actually got going over the surfaces - and when do they pass through mach 1 on the way down? The very concept of a supersonic glider stretches my brain.