Taking off in the chilly morning skies over Mojave Desert in California, Virgin's Galactic's privately-developed commercial rocketplane made its first test flight today, beginning a yearlong test flight program before the six-passenger combination rocket and aircraft begin taking paying tourists to the edge of space and back.
The flight began at 7:05 a.m. PDT as the WhiteKnightTwo, christened the VMS Eve, took off from the desert runway beneath crystal clear skies with the SpaceShipTwo passenger vehicle, the VMS Enterprise, slung underneath its fuselage. During the "captive carry" test flight, Enterprise remained bolted to the mothership while the two craft soared to 45,000 feet during a 3 hour, 54 minute flight. The spaceship was unveiled to the public for the first time on December 7, 2009 and named by Governors Schwarzenegger and Richardson. Both vehicles are being developed for Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, by Mojave based Scaled Composites. Founded by Burt Rutan, Scaled developed SpaceShipOne which in 2004 claimed the $10 million Ansari X prize as the world's first privately developed manned spacecraft. 
(Above: Virgin Galactic VMS Eve takes off with the VMS Enterprise commercial spacecraft. Credit: Virgin Galactic)
During flight, Eve will climb to an altitude of 50,000 feet where Enterprise will be released to begin free-flight. Enterprise will ignite its hybrid rocket motor for a high-speed climb to 316,000 feet before beginning free-fall culminating in a gliding landing on a standard runway. Initially, Virgin Galactic's flight will be based out of the commercial Spaceport America facilities in New Mexico, but the company has plans to conduct operations from various locations around the world. Virgin Galactic has already taken around $45 million in deposits for spaceflight reservations from over 330 people wanting to experience space for themselves. The first flight of VMS Enterprise is another major milestone in an exhaustive flight testing programme, which started with the inaugural flight of VMS Eve in 2008 and is at the heart of Virgin Galactic's commitment to safety. Commenting on the historic flight, Burt Rutan said: "This is a momentous day for the Scaled and Virgin Teams. The captive carry flight signifies the start of what we believe will be extremely exciting and successful spaceship flight test program." Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Galactic added: "Seeing the finished spaceship in December was a major day for us but watching VSS Enterprise fly for the first time really brings home what beautiful, ground-breaking vehicles Burt and his team have developed for us. It comes as no surprise that the flight went so well; the Scaled team is uniquely qualified to bring this important and incredible dream to reality. Today was another major step along that road and a testament to US engineering and innovation." The VSS Enterprise test flight programme will continue through 2010 and 2011, progressing from captive carry to independent glide and then powered flight, prior to the start of commercial operations. (The Spacearium / SpaceflightNews.net)
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