Page 2 - Unity Rocket Ship News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Flight, a passenger test flight, but a test flight. and the ship has been redesigned, safety enhancements since we had a tragic accident in 2014 in which a test pilot was killed. he was killed because they deployed that feather wing system that you discussed earlier, they deployed it too early and literally the entire aircraft came apart. so they are very, very conscious of how critical it is that they do all of this right on time, right on the money. i talked to the chief pilot multiple times dave mckay, an rif pilot from scotland. he said they are confident now this is a safe vehicle -- they...

You're checking all the systems to make sure everything is a go. you have people in mission control in charge of hydraulics, propulsion, these different areas that need everyone to give a sign-off before you start running down the runway. and i think that when i launched in space in 2008, you know, we were actually just launched in 2007, and we had some engine -- actually, it's rolling right now. so they're a little bit late, but -- yeah. >> leland is a better tv anchor than i am. he noticed it was rolling before i did. this is the beginning of the flight for vss "unity." vss stands for virgin...

It. what you're looking at there is what happened earlier this morning. this is going to play out until they reach that altitude 45,000 feet and then that's when we'll have the spaceship detachment from the mothership and rocketing up to, as we mentioned many times already, climbing up to 50,000 feet or 56,000. in fact, if they're able to replicate what they have done with the test pilots, as well. right now what you're looking at is the launch. it happened awhile ago. you have a feed that shows you what is going on right now? you're still seeing the vss unity rocket ship attached to the mothe...

Earth. i'll be interested to see what number they hit. 56 or 50 miles above earth. and nasa and the pentagon recognizes 50 miles into space. >> what an extraordinary moment. we know next week jeff bezos and blue origin get their turn in a different ship, a rocket. we know elon musk and spacex are working on their own orbital spacecraft. what does this moment? what does this day? what does next week put together? what do they mean for the possibilities in the future? >> i think this historic moment and the historic moments to come are the first baby steps, if you will, to opening up space for e...

Here. one reason they take off in the early morning as peter is a better expert than i am. you want to avoid taking off in the extreme afternoon heat 100 degree temperatures here in new mexico. >> peter, tell us, again, we are talking about 45 or 50,000 feet above earth when the ship itself "vss unity" will detach. this then propels itself -- it will then as soon as the mothership falls away, as you said, the rocket will ignite shortly thereafter? immediately thereafter? >> yeah. a time to get the run away and slowly spiral upwards to those 45 to 50,000 feet has been typically about 40 or 45 m...