FAA Opens Houston Space Safety Office avweb.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from avweb.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Space passengers: Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo receives FAA license
August 2, 2016
The US federal aviation watchdog has issued a license for Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, allowing the company to restart test flights for the plane designed to take passengers on sub-orbital space trips following the fatal 2014 crash.
The US Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA-AST) granted the operator license to Virgin Galactic almost two years after the failed test of the SpaceShipTwo craft, which broke up in-flight and crashed in the Mojave desert in October 2014. The new SpaceShipTwo spacecraft, branded VSS Unity, was unveiled in February this year and is currently undergoing ground system integration testing.
Are we ready for space tourism? politico.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from politico.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
SpaceX Starship Orbital Test Flight: Launch Date, Mission Details, Where to Watch Online
The Starship could perform its first orbital flight in just a few weeks. The SpaceX Starship is currently in development, but it shouldn t be too long before it is up in the orbit for the first time.
Photo : SpaceX/Pexels
The SpaceX Starship is launching its first orbital mission in the very near future. President Gwynne Shotwell said the company is shooting for July as it presses ahead with the orbital flight.
SpaceX Starship Orbital Test Flight
During the National Space Society s International Space Development Conference (ISDC) on June 25, Shotwell spoke about pushing on with its launch plans with the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage from the company s test site in Boca Chica, Texas, SpaceNews reported.
Image: SpaceX
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell says the company is planning its first orbital launch for July despite not yet having the regulatory approvals it actually neesd to do so.
Shotwell made the announcement during a speaking arrangement at the National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference (ISDC) on June 25, according to Space News.
“We are headed for our first orbital attempt in the not-too-distant future. We’re shooting for July,” she said.
“I am hoping we make it, but we all know this is difficult. We are really on the cusp of flying that system, or at least attempting the first orbital flight of that system, in the very near term.”