Virgin Galactic’s historic flight. SpaceShipTwo reached an altitude of more than 80 km

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo vehicle made a successful test flight to an altitude of nearly 83 kilometers. Richard Branson’s company’s ship will ultimately take tourists and science projects to the edge of space.

The test flight took place on Thursday. The vehicle took off from Mojave, California, about 150 kilometersow on poNorth of Los Angeles. SpaceShipTwo with two pilots on board was lifted to an altitude of more than 13 kilometersow by a larger aircraft called WhiteKnightTwo. Under separation from the mothership, SpaceShipTwo fired up its rocket engines and began a rapid ascent phase.

The rocket engine was run for 60 seconds and accelerated the ship to a speed of Mach 2.9. That was enough for SpaceShipTwo to reach an altitude of 82.7 kilometers. More than an hour after launch, the vehicle landed safely.

Media in the U.S. indicate that the test flight was the first manned spaceflight from the U.S. since 2011, when the shuttle program was terminatedow. Whether it was already a space flight or perhaps a suborbital one is a matter of dispute. Altitude, on ktohe SpaceShipTwo reached can be considered space as defined by the Federal Aviation Administration – US aviation regulator. Although, according to the International Aeronautical Federation, the limit is at an altitude of 100 kilometers, theow. This is the so-called. K lineármáon, for ktorą the Earth’s atmosphere becomes too diluted for the purpose of theoin aeronautics. Of course, this is a conventional limit.

These contentions aside, the successful test flight opens a new era in aviation and heralds a race by private companies to the frontiers of space.

Richard Branson’s company intends to offer commercial flights. Sam Branson, whoorego’s wealth is estimated at nearly five billionoin dollarsow, promised them nearly a decade ago. By September 2011, more than 600 osob made deposits or the entire amount of $250,000ow for a 90-minute flight. W¶rod them famous actor Leonardo DiCaprio or pop star Justin Bieber. Virgin Galactic’s first commercial flight is likely to take place next year.

Below is a recording of the test flight.

Yesterday’s successful test flight was the fourth this year. Rozwoj project was halted by the 2014 crash in which theorej one of the pilots was killedow, and the second odniosł serious wounds. But the project has not been abandoned. More tests are planned, with longer rocket engine use and possibly a higher ceiling.

On board SpaceShipTwo, in addition to the pilots, was a dummy and four NASA-operated payloads. These are scientific experiments conducting tests of technology in a state of weightlessness.