Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo (SS2) – SS2. Sir Richard Branson’s
The Ansari XPRIZE called for private sector innovations in the field of manned space exploration. Specifically, participants had to design, build and fly a privately funded vehicle that could deliver the weight of three people (including one actual person) to space. The vehicle had to be at least 80 percent reusable and fly twice within a two-week period. Mojave Aerospace Ventures, a Paul G. Allen company, and Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites pursued the prize with Rutan-designed SpaceShipOne, an air-launched all-composite rocket ship. The Virgin Group sponsored both of SpaceShipOne’s XPRIZE winning flights, flown in September and October 2004 by pilots Mike Melville and Brian Binnie respectively. SpaceShipOne is now permanently displayed in the Milestones of Flight Gallery at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. With this success, the Virgin Group licensed Mojave Aerospace Ventures’ technology and invested in the development of a second-generation vehicle for commercial ventures. Virgin Galactic was born. Seeing private space travel as a reality, early adopters began making reservations for flights, providing vital and tangible proof of a readily available market at a commercially viable price. To date, more than 600 people from 60 nations around the world have secured reservations to fly on SpaceShipTwo
The Ansari XPRIZE called for private sector innovations in the field of manned space exploration. Specifically, participants had to design, build and fly a privately funded vehicle that could deliver the weight of three people (including one actual person) to space. The vehicle had to be at least 80 percent reusable and fly twice within a two-week period. Mojave Aerospace Ventures, a Paul G. Allen company, and Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites pursued the prize with Rutan-designed SpaceShipOne, an air-launched all-composite rocket ship. The Virgin Group sponsored both of SpaceShipOne’s XPRIZE winning flights, flown in September and October 2004 by pilots Mike Melville and Brian Binnie respectively. SpaceShipOne is now permanently displayed in the Milestones of Flight Gallery at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. With this success, the Virgin Group licensed Mojave Aerospace Ventures’ technology and invested in the development of a second-generation vehicle for commercial ventures. Virgin Galactic was born. Seeing private space travel as a reality, early adopters began making reservations for flights, providing vital and tangible proof of a readily available market at a commercially viable price. To date, more than 600 people from 60 nations around the world have secured reservations to fly on SpaceShipTwo