Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo and Masten Space Systems’ Xombie vehicle both completed milestone test flights recently over the Mojave Desert, another step on the path towards commercial suborbital flights to space.
On March 20, Masten Space Systems’ Xombie vehicle, which recently won the $1 million top prize in NASA’s Lunar Lander Challenge, reached its highest altitude yet, 1046 feet, during a test launch. Later this year, Xombie will be capable of reaching an altitude of over 30 kilometers, and the recent flight marks another milestone towards Masten’s stated goal of providing “affordable access to space for a variety of scientific payloads” including “microgravity, space, and earth science experiments.”
On March 22, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, built by Scaled Composites, successfully completed its first “captive carry” atmospheric test flight at Mojave Spaceport attached to the WhiteKnightTwo mother aircraft, remaining aloft for 3 hours. “This is a momentous day for the Scaled and Virgin Teams,” said Burt Rutan, founder of Scaled Composites. “The captive carry flight signifies the start of what we believe will be extremely exciting and successful spaceship flight test program.” SpaceShipTwo is designed to carry two pilots and six passengers to space.
