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VSS ''Unity'' (Virgin Space Ship ''Unity'', registration: N202VG), previously referred to as VSS ''Voyager'', is a retired
SpaceShipTwo The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2) was an air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism. It was manufactured by The Spaceship Company, a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic. SpaceShipTwo was ...
-class
suborbital A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched. Hence, it will not complete one orbital revolution, will no ...
rocket-powered A rocket-powered aircraft or rocket plane is an aircraft that uses a rocket engine for propulsion, sometimes in addition to airbreathing jet engines. Rocket planes can achieve much higher speeds than similarly sized jet aircraft, but typically ...
crewed
spaceplane A spaceplane is a vehicle that can flight, fly and gliding flight, glide as an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and function as a spacecraft in outer space. To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbit ...
. It was the second ''SpaceShipTwo'' to be built and was part of the
Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. is a British-American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group conglomerate, which retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and opera ...
fleet. It first reached space as defined by the United States (above 50 miles or 80.5 km) on 13 December 2018, on the VP-03 mission. ''Unity'' was able to reach space as defined by the U.S. Air Force,
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
, and the FAA, by going over 50 miles (80.5 km) above sea level. However, it was unable to go above the
Kármán line The Kármán line (or von Kármán line ) is a conventional definition of the Outer space#Boundary, edge of space; it is widely but not universally accepted. The international record-keeping body Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, FAI ( ...
, the FAI's defined space boundary of 100 km (62.1 miles). VSS ''Unity'' was rolled out on 19 February 2016 and completed ground-based
system integration testing System integration testing (SIT) involves the overall testing of a complete system of many subsystem components or elements. The system under test may be composed of electromechanical or computer hardware, or software, or hardware with embed ...
in September 2016, prior to its first flight on 8 September 2016. ''Unity'' was retired on 8 June 2024 after its final flight took place on that date, as Virgin Galactic shifted its focus to the next generation Delta-class vehicles.


Overview

VSS ''Unity'', the second
SpaceShipTwo The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2) was an air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism. It was manufactured by The Spaceship Company, a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic. SpaceShipTwo was ...
suborbital spaceplane for
Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. is a British-American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group conglomerate, which retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and opera ...
, was the first SpaceShipTwo built by
The Spaceship Company The Spaceship Company (TSC) is a British/American spacecraft manufacturing company that was founded by Burt Rutan and Richard Branson in mid-2005 and was jointly owned by Virgin Group (70%) and Scaled Composites (30%) until 2012 when Virgin ...
. The ship's name was announced on 19 February 2016. Prior to the naming announcement, the craft was referred to as SpaceShipTwo, Serial Number Two. There was speculation in 2004 that Serial Number Two would be named VSS ''Voyager'', an unofficial name that was repeatedly used in media coverage. The name ''Unity'' was chosen by British physicist
Stephen Hawking Stephen William Hawking (8January 194214March 2018) was an English theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between ...
. Hawking's eye was also used as the model for the eye logo on the side of ''Unity''.


History

The manufacture of ''Unity'' began in 2012. The spacecraft's registration, N202VG, was filed in September 2014. As of early November 2014, the build of ''Unity'' was about 90 percent structurally complete, and 65 percent complete overall. As of April 2015, ground tests of ''Unity'' were projected to be able to begin as early as late 2015, after being projected as early as mid-2015 as of November 2014. On 21 May 2015, ''Unity'' reached the milestone of bearing the weight of the airframe on its own wheels. The spaceship was unveiled on 19 February 2016, as Virgin Galactic founder Sir
Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneu ...
had projected in November 2015; ground and flight testing commenced thereafter. VSS ''Unity'' was the second SpaceShipTwo to be completed; the first, VSS ''Enterprise'', was destroyed in a crash in late October 2014. After rollout and unveiling, a phase of testing called " Integrated Vehicle Ground Testing" began on VSS ''Unity'' in February 2016.


Test flight program

VSS ''Unity'' underwent a test regimen similar to VSS ''Enterprise'' and then embarked on testing beyond what ''Enterprise'' experienced. The test flights were expected to be fewer, as ''Enterprise'' had already tested the design's responses under numerous conditions. For each flight test, the
White Knight Two The Scaled Composites Model 348 White Knight Two (WK2) is a quadjet cargo aircraft that was used to lift the SpaceShipTwo (SS2) spacecraft to release altitude. It was developed by Scaled Composites from 2007 to 2010 as the first stage of Tie ...
aircraft carried ''Unity'' to altitude. Testing began with captive carry flights, in which ''Unity'' was not released from its carrier aircraft. Testing then progressed to free-flight glide testing, and continued with powered test flights. On 8 September 2016, Virgin Galactic commenced flight testing of ''Unity'' with a captive-carry flight. On 1 November 2016, Virgin Galactic conducted another captive-carry flight of ''Unity'' but cancelled the glide portion of the flight because of wind speed. On 3 November and 30 November, additional captive-carry flights took place. In July 2017, Richard Branson suggested that the craft was to begin powered tests at three-week intervals. In September 2017, CEO George Whitesides suggested that engine testing was complete, and that only a "small number of glide flights" remained before VSS ''Unity'' would begin powered test flights. The first powered flight test took place on 5 April 2018 when a 30-second rocket firing accelerated ''Unity'' to a speed of
Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...
1.87 and an altitude of . The first powered test flight of ''Unity'' exceeded the altitude of all powered test flights of its predecessor, ''Enterprise''. VSS ''Unity'' VP-03, the first
suborbital spaceflight A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched. Hence, it will not complete one orbital revolution, will ...
of VSS ''Unity'' was successfully completed on 13 December 2018, surpassing the altitude considered the boundary of outer space by NASA and the United States Air Force. Following its February 2019 flight to space, VSS ''Unity'' began to undergo modifications including installation of the commercial cabin, and changes to cockpit displays. Upon completion of these modifications, VSS ''Unity'' along with its carrier craft, VMS ''Eve'', were moved to
Spaceport America Spaceport America, formerly the Southwest Regional Spaceport, is an FAA-licensed spaceport located on of State Trust Land in the Jornada del Muerto desert basin north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and southeast of Truth or Consequences. Wit ...
in New Mexico in February 2020. After completing two additional glide tests in New Mexico in May and June 2020, VSS ''Unity'' underwent final modifications to the commercial cabin and in July 2020, Virgin Galactic first publicly showed the interior of the spacecraft. ''Unity'' then continued the test flight program in the years 2020–2023. A notable flight occurred in 2021 when Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson flew aboard ''Unity'' to space. The final test flight (defined as final flight with only Virgin Galactic personnel onboard) was Virgin Galactic Unity 25 mission on 25 May 2023. The first operational flight of ''Unity'' (defined as the first flight flying passengers that were not Virgin Galactic employees) was
Galactic 01 Galactic 01, previously referred to as Unity 23, was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS ''Unity'' which launched on 29 June 2023. The launch was the first commercial spaceflight for Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic Hol ...
on 29 June 2023. The flights of VSS ''Unity'' ended mid-2024 to focus the effort on the next generation Delta-class vehicles, expected for 2025–26.


List of spaceflights by VSS ''Unity''


Full list of flights


See also

*
Space tourism Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism. Tourists are motivated by the possibility of viewing Earth from space, ...


Notes


References


External links


N202VG Virgin Galactic 1 Flight tracking history log
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vss Unity Virgin Galactic Crewed spacecraft
Unity Unity is the state of being as one (either literally or figuratively). It may also refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpoo ...
Rocket-powered aircraft Individual spaceplanes Space tourism Suborbital spaceflight Aircraft first flown in 2016 Glider aircraft