We recently reported on Virgin Galactic’s success when it comes to smashing the sound barrier in a test flight, and for those who are deeply interested in the work of Virgin Galactic, here is some released footage from a camera that was located on the spaceship’s tail. The view is not as flattering as one might have expected to check out as they hang around the craft’s windows, but it does offer a glimpse into an experience that majority of us are unable to afford at our whim and fancy.
This particular spaceship is better known officially as the SpaceShipTwo, or SS2 for short, and happens to be Virgin Galactic’s supersonic spacecraft that was specially constructed for a potentially lucrative suborbital tourism sector. In its test flight recently, the SS2 managed to hit an altitude of 46,000 feet before it was released, while pilots Mark Stucky and Clint Nichols followed up that move by igniting the rocket. For a good 20 seconds, the rocket managed to send the SS2 to 69,000 feet and achieved a maximum speed of Mach 1.43. To get a gander on the difference between the SS2’s speed and altitude compared to standard plane travel, the average commercial jet would fly at around 30,000 feet with an average speed of 550 miles per hour, which would be at Mach 0.84 (subsonic speeds).
Filed in . Read more about Virgin Galactic.