SpaceShipTwo Prepares for First Spaceflight from New Mexico

The first SpaceShipTwo spaceflight from Virgin Galactic's operational base at Spaceport America in New Mexico is being planned for later this fall. The flight will be crewed by two pilots, and will carry several research payloads in the cabin of VSS Unity.

“VMS Eve has the ability to test pilot proficiency by simulating the glide and approach-to-land phase of flight for SpaceShipTwo pilots. The cockpit structure of Eve is almost identical to that of Unity."

Virgin Galactic Chief Pilot Dave Mackay.

In these final preparations, Virgin Galactic says it is working through a number of rigorous steps to prepare the vehicles, pilots, teams and facilities, ensuring that safety remains the top priority.

One of the steps along the path to be ready for a spaceflight is to ensure that the pilots are well prepared for their flight test objectives. A significant amount of training occurs in a ground-based simulator, both with the pilots on their own, as well as in sessions that are linked to the mission control room.

And there is another powerful training tool for the pilots – VG’s mothership vehicle, VMS Eve.

“VMS Eve has the ability to test pilot proficiency by simulating the glide and approach-to-land phase of flight for SpaceShipTwo pilots. The cockpit structure of Eve is almost identical to that of Unity: the same pilot seats and windows, as well as very similar flight controls and instruments," said Chief Pilot, Dave Mackay. "This, coupled with the fact that with Eve’s landing gear down, and one set of speed brakes out, it descends on the same flight path angle as SpaceShipTwo, means that the crew can practice the identical approach and landing pattern to the one they will fly in Unity – with much of the same information displays, and the same view out the window. This makes Eve a very valuable in-flight simulator for the spaceship’s final approach and landing phases.’’

Preparing VSS Unity for flight also includes a “practice run” for the spaceship, as well as the pilots and teams in mission control. Unity is put through its paces on the ground, testing all systems prior to flight to ensure functionality – including raising the feather, swinging the landing gear, firing the reaction control thrusters, and sweeping the flight control systems through full range of motion. Pre-flight vehicle checks are designed to functionally verify that all systems are working as they should be, prior to the take-off.

With this being the first spaceflight from Virgin Galactic's home at Spaceport America, a full rehearsal of the spaceship propellant loading procedures is planned. During this rehearsal, a full tanking test will be conducted, loading high-pressure helium and nitrous oxide into their respective spaceship tanks on-board VSS Unity. This rehearsal will give the teams the opportunity to review the end to end execution of every step in the flight process at Spaceport.

This upcoming spaceflight will be carrying research payloads in the cabin, as has been done on previous spaceflights. For this flight, there are three payloads that are part of the NASA Flight Opportunities Program

Consistent with how VSS Unity glide flights have been conducted earlier this year at Spaceport America, all operations are following a set of stringent operational protocols that include changes to the work areas and procedures to enforce social distancing and universal mask usage, as advised by state guidelines.

Virgin Galactic says it can confirm that it is still on track to meet a late-fall timeframe for the flight. In September they disclosed, via our application for a multi-year Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license, that October 22, 2020 would be the opening of our flight planning window. The company also included preliminary test flight dates for our mothership, VMS Eve. Although preparations are going well, they are not quite at the stage where specific planned flight dates for either our VSS Unity or VMS Eve test flights can be confirmed.

(Image provided with Virgin Galactic news release)