Whitesides: Second SpaceShipTwo Near Completion | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-06.23.25

Airborne-NextGen-06.24.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.25.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-06.26.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.27.25

Tue, Oct 13, 2015

Whitesides: Second SpaceShipTwo Near Completion

First Flight Tests Pushed To 2016, Virgin Galactic CEO Says

The second version of SpaceShipTwo is nearing completion in a hangar in Mojave, CA, but it will not fly before next year.

That was the assessment of Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides, speaking at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS) last week in Las Cruces, NM.

According to a report appearing on www.americaspace.com, Whitesides said the company is maintaining three shifts to finish the vehicle. Currently, work is focusing on integrating plumbing, electrical, pneumatic, and other systems, Whitesides said. "The trick with all these programs is to find the right balance of moving quickly and building it right and safely," he said.

Whitesides said that after the major "weight on wheels" milestone was reached in May, the aircraft has since been mated to WhiteKnightTwo. Later this year, the oxidizer tank will be installed in the fuselage. Also still to be incorporated are new avionics and pilot seats.

The flight test regimen will include captive carry tests, unpowered glide tests, and finally powered flight tests. The company says it hopes to begin those tests next year, but analysts see that timeline as ambitious given that ground testing will not begin until sometime in 2016. They also point to Virgin Galactic's history of missing self-imposed deadlines.

This spacecraft, however, is not a clean-sheet design. Virgin Galactic may have a chance of flying next year because the concept has already been proven, analysts say.

(File image provided by Virgin Galactic)

FMI: www.virgingalactic.com

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (06.29.25)

Aero Linx: Transport Canada We are a federal institution, leading the Transport Canada portfolio and working with our partners. Transport Canada is responsible for transportation p>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (06.29.25): Gross Navigation Error (GNE)

Gross Navigation Error (GNE) A lateral deviation from a cleared track, normally in excess of 25 Nautical Miles (NM). More stringent standards (for example, 10NM in some parts of th>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Anticipating Futurespace - Blue Origin Visits Airventure 2017

From AirVenture 2017 (YouTube Edition): Flight-Proven Booster On Display At AirVenture… EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is known primarily as a celebration of experimental and amateu>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Cirrus SR22

Aircraft Parachute System (CAPS) Was Deployed About 293 Ft Above Ground Level, Which Was Too Low To Allow For Full Deployment Of The Parachute System Analysis: The day before the a>[...]

Airborne Affordable Flyers 06.26.25: PA18 Upgrades, ‘Delta Force’, Rhinebeck

Also: 48th Annual Air Race Classic, Hot Air Balloon Fire, FAA v Banning 100LL, Complete Remote Pilot The news Piper PA-18 Super Cub owners have been waiting for has finally arrived>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC