Page 14 - Flight Opportunities Program News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Credit: Virgin Galactic The first Scot in space is to make history for a second time by taking control of a "milestone" rocket launch in New Mexico this afternoon. Dave Mackay, from the Scottish Highlands, is one of two pilots on board Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity, which is due to take off at 8am MT - around 3pm GMT. Sir Richard Branson's company is expected to begin space tourism flights in 2021, with Justin Bieber and Leonardo DiCaprio among the first 600 paying customers who have signed up so far. Today's flight will be the first of three final demonstration flights before the touri...

VSS Unity aborts after engine start, safely lands with crew back at Spaceport America December 12, 2020 Virgin Galactic was to perform their first human spaceflight of their VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo vehicle from Spaceport America, just south of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, today. The spaceship and crew took off at 10:24 EST (15:24 UTC) firmly attached to their WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft from the runway at Spaceport America. The combined aircraft climbed to altitude before Unity was released at 11:15 EST (16:15 UTC). After release, Unity lit its engine but aborted one second into firi...

Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic is poised to launch the SpaceShipTwo as early as Saturday on a milestone powered flight test following a month-long delay due to COVID-19 restrictions in New Mexico. The company hopes to send a pair of astronauts, CJ Sturckow and Dave Mackay, aboard the VSS Unity on a suborbital trip, marking the spaceplane’s third crewed test mission. What’s more, this launch will be the first time that a crewed spaceflight has taken off from New Mexico soil — making it only the third American state to actually launch spacecraft overall, behind California and Florida. �...

The window opened Friday for Virgin Galactic’s first rocket-powered test flight from Spaceport America in southern New Mexico as the c...