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Michael Alsbury

American - (VG)

Lost In Flight

Date of Birth: March 19, 1975
Date of Death: Oct. 31, 2014


Michael Tyner Alsbury was an American test pilot for Scaled Composites. On October 31, 2014, Alsbury was test flying the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo, VSS Enterprise with Peter Siebold. The craft broke up in-flight, resulting in a total loss of VSS Enterprise, which crashed in the California Mojave Desert.

SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise GF01

Virgin Galactic | United States of America
Air launch to Suborbital flight
Oct. 10, 2010, noon
Status: Success
Mission:

Free glide test flight of VSS Enterprise.

Suborbital
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SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise GF02

Virgin Galactic | United States of America
Air launch to Suborbital flight
Oct. 28, 2010, noon
Status: Success
Mission:

Free glide test flight of VSS Enterprise.

Suborbital
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SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise GF06

Virgin Galactic | United States of America
Air launch to Suborbital flight
April 27, 2011, noon
Status: Success
Mission:

Free glide test flight of VSS Enterprise.

Suborbital
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SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise GF17

Virgin Galactic | United States of America
Air launch to Suborbital flight
June 26, 2012, noon
Status: Success
Mission:

Free glide test flight of VSS Enterprise.

Suborbital
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SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise GF23

Virgin Galactic | United States of America
Air launch to Suborbital flight
Dec. 19, 2012, noon
Status: Success
Mission:

Free glide test flight of VSS Enterprise.

Suborbital
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SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise CF01

Virgin Galactic | United States of America
Air launch to Suborbital flight
April 12, 2013, noon
Status: Success
Mission:

Cold flow test flight of VSS Enterprise.

Suborbital
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SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise PF01

Virgin Galactic | United States of America
Air launch to Suborbital flight
April 29, 2013, noon
Status: Success
Mission:

Powered test flight of VSS Enterprise.

Suborbital
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SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise CF02

Virgin Galactic | United States of America
Air launch to Suborbital flight
Aug. 28, 2014, noon
Status: Success
Mission:

Cold flow test flight of VSS Enterprise.

Suborbital
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SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise PF04

Virgin Galactic | United States of America
Air launch to Suborbital flight
Oct. 31, 2014, noon
Status: Failure
Mission:

Powered test flight of VSS Enterprise. Unintended feathering destroyed the vehicle in-flight, killed one pilot and injured the other.

Suborbital
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Founder: Richard Branson

Virgin Galactic is an American spaceflight company within the Virgin Group. It is developing commercial spacecraft and aims to provide suborbital spaceflights to space tourists. Virgin Galactic's suborbital spacecraft are air launched from beneath a carrier airplane known as White Knight Two.


Electron
Success
1 day, 10 hours ago
IoT 4 You and Me (Kinéis 16-20)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1A - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Fourth batch of five satellites for the French Kinéis IoT constellation designed to operate with 25 nanosatellites of 30 kg each.


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 12 hours ago
Starlink Group 12-9
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Soyuz 2.1v
Success
5 days, 3 hours ago
Kosmos 2581/2582/2583
43/4 (43R) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Unidentified classified satellites for the Russian military.


Falcon 9
Success
5 days, 8 hours ago
WorldView Legion 5 & 6
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

WorldView Legion is a constellation of Earth observation satellites built and operated by Maxar. Constellation is planned to consist of 6 satellites …


New Shepard
Success
5 days, 15 hours ago
NS-29
West Texas Suborbital Launch Site/ Corn Ranch - Corn Ranch, Van Horn, TX, USA

NS-29 will simulate the Moon’s gravity and fly 30 payloads, all but one of which is focused on testing lunar-related technologies. The payloads wi…