Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane embarked on its first flight on Monday above California’s Mojave Air and Space Port. Virgin founder, Richard Branson said:

Today was the most significant day in the program. I think that for those people who have been good enough to stick with us for the last eight years, who signed up early on, their time to become astronauts is very soon now. … We’ll soon be able to make their dreams come true.

This was the rocket’s first fully-powered flight. Previously, the rocket had been dropped from the WhiteKnightTwo carrier craft, with the rocket gliding back to the runway without having powered up its engines.

SpaceShipTwo was dropped from an altitude of 47,000 feet from the WhiteKnightTwo, and once it was clear from its mothership, the engines were ignited and SpaceShipTwo pointed up towards the sky.

The flight lasted all of 13 minutes with the rocket reaching an alitutude of 56,200 feet.

The pilots confirmed that “SpaceShipTwo exceeded the speed of sound on today’s flight.”

Virgin Galactic’s president and CEO, GEorge Whitesides said:

[The flight test] went as planned, with the expected burn duration, good engine performance and solid vehicle handling qualities throughout.

[Source: Cosmic Log]