Flight International online news 11:30 GMT: Mojave-based Scaled Composites' SpaceShipTwo's (SS2) carrier aircraft, White Knight 2, will have the wingspan of a Boeing 737 and use composite structure technology developed for the Virgin Atlantic Globalflyer.
Globalflyer
Two WK2s have been ordered by suborbital tourism company Virgin Galactic. It's chief executive Sir Richard Branson refers to WK2 as Eve.
Virgin Galactic's WK2s will launch the five SS2s the company has also ordered.
Because SS2 will have nine people on board, compared to SpaceShipOne's maximum of three, it is a much bigger craft and Eve will be proportionally larger.
"It’s no coincidence that the Globalflyer has a 737 wingspan and is made from one piece of composite. It’s also a project we’ve been working on with Burt [Rutan]," says Virgin Galactic President Will Whitehorn, speaking exclusively to Flight International.
White Knight 1
From 2008 the first of Branson’s SS2s, the VSS - Enterprise, will be released by Eve and then fire its hybrid engine, which like SS1 will be a pyrotechnic ignited hydroxy-terminated polybutadiene rubber and nitrous oxide system.
SS2 designs, including a mock up of its interior, will be made public in about 14 months time.
Passengers will be onboard Eve to watch other air launches before they fly on SS2 as part of the training.
During the suborbital flight the passengers will be attached to retractable bungie cord in rollercoaster ride like seating.
ROB COPPINGER / LONDON
Source: Flight International
