The SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is a suborbital, air-launched space plane, designed for space tourism. It is under development by The Spaceship Company.
SpaceShipTwo is carried to its launch altitude by a mothership, the Scaled Composites White Knight Two, before being launched to fly on into the upper atmosphere, powered by a rocket motor. It then glides back to Earth and performs a conventional runway landing. The spaceship was officially unveiled to the public on Monday, 7 December 2009, at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. The aircraft is currently (2012) undergoing flight-testing, having conducted 22 successful gliding flight tests as of August 2012.
Tags:
