Virgin Galactic presents VSS Unity spacecraft for sub-orbital travel

PanARMENIAN.Net - Private space tourism company Virgin Galactic on Friday, February 19 unveiled the new version of its SpaceShipTwo vehicle, dubbed the VSS Unity, the Verge reports.

It’s the spacecraft that the company wants to use to send paying customers into sub-orbital space someday. The VSS Unity will ultimately replace Virgin Galactic's former SpaceShipTwo plane, called the VSS Enterprise, which crashed during a test flight in 2014; the accident claimed the life of one the vehicle's pilots and severely injured the co-pilot.

The VSS Unity was shown off at a special ceremony at the Mojave Air and Spaceport in California, where Virgin Galactic conducts its flight tests. Outwardly, the vehicle is nearly identical to its predecessor. It will also launch and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere the same as before. But the spacecraft differs from the previous vehicle in a few key areas. For one, this version is much more automated. The first SpaceShipTwo crashed partly because of pilot error, so this vehicle has new fail-safes in place to protect pilots from making critical mistakes during flight. The vehicle's rocket engine will also use a different rubber-like fuel, something that will make combustion more efficient, the company said; but this new fuel has also been known to cause Virgin Galactic engine trouble in the past.

These vehicle changes haven't been tested in flight yet, though. The ceremony was just to unveil the new vehicle, which has taken close to four years to build. Its name, Unity, actually came from Stephen Hawking. "Space Exploration has already been a great unifier," he said. "We seem to be able to cooperate between nations in space in a way we can only envy on Earth."

The first test flights are slated to begin later this year, according to Will Pomerantz, vice president of special projects at Virgin Galactic. Testing will show if SpaceShipTwo is capable of safely performing its maiden voyages — many of which have already been booked. More than 700 people have paid the $250,000 price to reserve a seat on the sub-orbital spaceplane. Future passengers include numerous celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Leonardo DiCaprio, Angelina Jolie, and Justin Bieber.