Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic bounces back with second successful launch
After a fatal crash of its initial launch in 2014, Virgin Galactic's space tourism rocket has not one, but two successful launches under its belt.
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Richard Branson is really picking up his space tourism game after a rocky start.
The Virgin founder's rocket-powered passenger spacecraft, SpaceShipTwo, zoomed closer to taking tourists to the edge of space Tuesday when it successfully completed a second test flight.
Called the VSS Unity, the second craft built for the journeys after the unsuccessful Enterprise, soared up to 114,500 feet at Mach 1.9, or nearly 1,300 miles per hour (2,090 kph).
Today VSS Unity completed her second powered test flight in less than 2 months. Great job to all involved! #SpaceShipTwo pic.twitter.com/Iy7qAkweSC
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) May 29, 2018
VSS Unity has been busy, this being her second flight in two months, with the initial test flight successfully launching in April. This is all happening around four years after the fatal crash of the first Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo, Enterprise.
Since its founding in 2004, Virgin Galactic has hoped to offer you flights to space for a cheeky $250,000 a ticket. Problem is, it's almost a decade behind schedule, and competition is heated in the space tourism arena, with Jeff Bezos' rocket company Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX charging to infinity and beyond.