VMS Eve
VMS Eve [1] is a carrier mothership for Virgin Galactic and launch platform for Virgin Space Ships. It is the first White Knight Two delivered from Scaled Composites to Virgin Galactic.
The aircraft was named after Evette Branson, the mother of Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin Group. The jet plane has nose art of a blond woman holding the Virgin Galactic corporate flag. [2] The image is based on how Evette Branson looked like when she was younger, and is called Galactic Girl. [3] The aircraft was officially launched on Monday, July 28th, 2008, in Mojave, California, USA, at the Mojave Spaceport, home of Scaled Composites. Eve will be used in the Virgin Galactic testflight program, preceding entry into commercial usage. [4] It is expected that commercial service will start in 2010.
At the time of launch, it was the largest all-composite aircraft built. It has the longest single-piece composite aircraft part, a 140ft long wingspar. [5] Burt Rutan has dismissed fears that pressurization cycles might induce fatigue failure in the composite structure. [6] Richard Branson has also announced that it will be highly fuel efficient. [7]
Notes
- ^ Washington Post, Mother Ship Unveiled for $200,000 Place in Space, Tuesday, July 29, 2008; Page A02; Karl Vick
- ^ ABC News, Virgin Galactic Announces New Space Aircraft, July 28, 2008, LAUREN SHER
- ^ Chicago Tribune, Branson reveals mother ship, July 29, 2008
- ^ The Register, Branson unveils Virgin Galactic mothership, Tuesday 29th July 2008 10:32 GMT, Scott Snowden
- ^ eFluxMedia, WhiteKnightTwo Offers Space As The Ultimate Tourist Destination, 12:08, July 29th 2008, Dee Chisamera'
- ^ Flightglobal, Rutan: Fatigue 'is not an issue' for WhiteKnightTwo,29/07/08 ,Rob Coppinger
- ^ National Geographic, Virgin Galactic Unveils WhiteKnightTwo Space Plane, July 28, 2008, Ker Than
Sources
- BBC News, Branson unveils space tourism jet, 20:42 GMT, Monday, 28 July 2008 21:42 UK
- LA Times, Richard Branson unveils his space plane, July 29, 2008, Peter Pae
- Wired, Virgin Galactic Unveils White Knight Two Launch Vehicle, 07.29.08, Dave Bullock
- New York Times, New Steps in Private Space Travel, July 29, 2008, JOHN SCHWARTZ
- Reuters, Branson unveils plane to launch spaceship, Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:47pm BST, Fred Prouser
- Associated Press, New space race heats up with unveiling of aircraft, ALICIA CHANG
- Scientific American, Forget the Dark Knight--the White Knight Two mothership has arrived, Jul 28, 2008 05:52 PM, Adam Hadhazy
- New Scientist, Virgin Galactic rolls out SpaceShipTwo's 'mothership', 23:59 28 July 2008, Rachel Courtland
- Telegraph, Sir Richard Branson unveils Virgin's spaceship, 12:09PM BST 29 Jul 2008, James Quinn
See also
- SpaceShipTwo
- Tier 1b
- The Spaceship Company
- Mojave Aerospace Ventures
- Space tourism
- Tier One
- SpaceShipOne
- Scaled Composites White Knight
- Ansari X-Prize
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