SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise PF04
Launch Failure
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Instantaneous launch window.
Launch Window
Oct. 31, 2014, noon - Oct. 31, 2014, noon
Instantaneous launch window.
Oct. 31, 2014, noon - Oct. 31, 2014, noon
Powered test flight of VSS Enterprise. Unintended feathering destroyed the vehicle in-flight, killed one pilot and injured the other.
The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is an air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism. It is manufactured by The Spaceship Company, a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic.
VSS Enterprise was the first SpaceShipTwo (SS2) spaceplane, built by Scaled Composites for Virgin Galactic. As of 2004, it was planned to be the first of five commercial suborbital SS2 spacecraft planned by Virgin Galactic. Enterprise was destroyed during a powered test flight on 31 October 2014, killing one pilot, Michael Alsbury, and seriously injuring another, Peter Siebold. An investigation revealed the accident was caused by premature deployment of the "feathering" system, the ship's descent device; the NTSB also faulted the spacecraft's design for lacking fail-safe mechanisms that could have deterred or prevented early deployment.
SpaceShipTwo Details
Date of
Birth: March 19, 1975
Date of Death:
Oct. 31, 2014
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.
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