Virgin Galactic spaceplane
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- the spaceplane was carried aloft from the company's Mojave base by the mothership WhiteKnightTwo, also known as VMS Eve, piloted by Mike Masucci and Nicola Pecile. Unity was dropped from Eve at an altitude of 46,500 ft (14,173 m).
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A few seconds later the spacecraft's hybrid rocket engine fired, sending the vehicle on an 80-degree angle upward. The engine, which uses a plug of plastic solid rocket fuel and nitrous oxide as an oxidizer, propelled Unity to an altitude of 84,271 ft (25,686 m) as it went transsonic and then supersonic. As the engine throttled back and shut down, the twin tail booms deployed 60 degrees into a "feathered" configuration that slowed the craft down as it descended to Earth. At 50,000 ft (15,240 m), the booms were retracted and Unity glided to a conventional landing.
We need more cats like this NASA is compromised...Did you see when Neal Armstrong told Elon Musk what he was doing was "a mistake."? Musk was almost in tears, hope these old curmugeons don't get in the way of real exploration.
didn't see that and never heard of it.
THAT's a good 'seed' for conspiracy theories.
Not saying it's aliens...or seeeecret world government or anything..but..
I would like to see that, someone needs to take Elon down a peg. He is a glorified welfare queen.
All is true but he might be able to pull out of the reliance on gov't hand-outs and it's great to see someone else w/skin in the game. NASA just doesn't cut if anymore. Branson, Musk. Maybe if NASA had some competition they would get something done!
Yeah sure. They've been at it for quite awhile too and tons of money has already been spent on NASA. Perhaps some competition can be a healthy thing. Light a fire under their asses. Branson's company btw, is self-funded. Stop whining about gov't contracts, there is plenty to go around especially if you're not asking for a hand out.
Like go to the moon, land rovers on Mars that operate for a decade past their design life, send probes to the furthest reaches of the solar system and walk in space? How does a billionaire profiting off the taxpayers help?
It's not really competition, its graft. Musk and Branson get the government contracts not because they are the best or smartest or most efficient but because they are the best connected.
Ooh, it's Richard Branson space agency.
So the test flight was a success right?
Nice was wondering when they would test it. Glad it went well!
yup...telling the truth is always best. lol
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Nice post, thanks for sharing
Hi @everittdmickey
Great post!
The video @dexterdumb is referring to:
One thing that worries me about Musk is the controversial videos out there and the squandering of millions of Tax payer money (sounds like a NASA 2.0). Explanation in the video by Highimpactflix:
The video in your post looks insane! Thanks for the share
what do you mean by squandering?
If you haven't noticed he's actually getting things done!
Not my words, missing in my comment is the word "alleged"
It is true we do see a lot of videos of things getting done...
If memory serves me right Elon Musk own the only company (SpaceX) that has a used rocket ship...in fact it owns quite a few...some have been reused several times.
True that.
There is a ton of info on it. It truly is amazing what one can achieve when backed by millions.
Nasa had billions...perhaps Trillions (if inflation is considered)
Agreed
Inflation will make the graph look much more impressive
(Data Source)
Today I'll tell NASA, how does the saying go...
Or something in that line
Imagine, taking tourists (of course only millionaires), to the limits of space, is a spectacle specially reserved for few; although after that fatal accident of 2014, for me, it is not very attractive. Well, if I decided to do it, I should have available approximately $ 200,000 for a trip of a few minutes; apparently, there are more than 800 people on the waiting list to make this humble trip through space ... Definitely, I am not part of that market niche.
yeah, heck of a guy, I bet NASA could blow $200 million in taxpayer dollars on a spaceport if someone allocated it.
are you talking about the Brownsville spaceport?
I hope he hasn't done it more than once!
Actually this is the fourth.
so a "projection" to "eventually" generate 500 jobs? and it only cost taxpayers $200 million? Not bad that's only $400,000 a pop. How many passengers were they projecting to have by now?
where do you get the $200 Million part?
https://www.watchdog.org/national/can-spaceport-america-recover-or-was-taxpayers-money-lost-in/article_5861d0d3-96f9-5425-bfb5-ecb039f98f98.html
Probably more since then. They haven't been flying the regular sub orbital passenger flights have they?
why?
It's a boondoggle and example of crony capitalism
kinda like the interstate highway system?
yeah, except you and I won't use it every day.
who's your daddy?