Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, a six-passenger, two-pilot suborbital spacecraft, is expected to make its third powered test flight within a month, said the company’s chief executive George Whitesides. So far, about 650 customers have put down deposits or paid in full for rides aboard SpaceShipTwo, which now cost $250,000. SpaceShipTwo’s last [...]
LAS CRUCES — Spaceport America released a fiscal 2015 budget this week that pushes back its estimates for when Virgin Galactic may begin its flights and when the visitor’s center will open. The budget assumes Virgin Galactic will start flying by August 2014, about six months later than previously expected. [...]
WASHINGTON — In an attempt to forestall congressional direction of the process, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation has produced a 50-page list of safety practices that could serve as the cornerstone for future commercial human spaceflight safety regulations. Formally known as “Draft Established Practices [...]
