VSS Unity

E91086

VSS Unity is Virgin Galactic’s suborbital spaceplane designed for commercial space tourism flights.

Aliases (1)

Statements (47)
Predicate Object
instanceOf rocket-powered spaceplane
suborbital spaceplane
apogeeCapability over 80 kilometers altitude
carrierAircraft VMS Eve
commercialServiceStart 2023
constructionMaterial carbon composite airframe
countryOfOrigin United States
crew two pilots per flight
crewCapacity 2
crewLaunchAndLandingMode horizontal takeoff and landing
crewLaunchSite Spaceport America, New Mexico
designedFor reusable suborbital flights
firstFlight 2016-09-08
firstPoweredFlight 2018-04-05
firstSpaceflight 2018-12-13
firstSpaceflightApogee approximately 82.7 kilometers
flightDuration approximately 90 minutes total mission time
flightProfile suborbital ballistic trajectory
launchConfiguration air-launched from carrier aircraft
launchSite Mojave Air and Space Port
Spaceport America
length approximately 18 meters
manufacturer The Spaceship Company
maximumSpeed over Mach 3
microgravityDuration a few minutes of microgravity per flight
missionType microgravity research flights
space tourism flights
namedAfter Unity
notableFlight first crewed spaceflight for Virgin Galactic on 2018-12-13
first flight carrying company founder Richard Branson on 2021-07-11
operator Virgin Galactic
partOf Virgin Galactic fleet
passengerCapacity 6
predecessor VSS Enterprise
program Virgin Galactic commercial spaceflight program
programName SpaceShipTwo program
propulsionType hybrid rocket motor
registration N202VG
role commercial space tourism vehicle
suborbital research platform
safetyFeature feathered reentry system
spaceAgencyCustomer NASA
spacecraftType SpaceShipTwo-class vehicle
status operational
usesFuel hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene-based solid fuel
usesOxidizer nitrous oxide
wingspan approximately 8 meters

Referenced by (4)

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