Yesterday saw Virgin Galactic’s space tourism venture reach new heights over the Mojave desert. It was the third time they launched the vehicle, VSS Unity, on a successful test flight they’re hoping will scare the kak of public passengers in the near future.

They really did push the limits this time, with pilots Mike Masucci and Dave Mackay igniting the engine for a total of 42 seconds, hitting Mach 2.47 at a height of 32.3 miles (about 52km).

How high is that really? The Verge speaks alien:

That’s still not high enough to be considered space, which most argue begins at around 62 miles up. But Virgin Galactic is more than half of the way there now.

We still don’t know when they plan on giving passengers a view of earth, but according to the CEO, George Whitesides, they’re making progress:

“I think we have to look at the data from today. We still have some more tests to go in our test flight program.”

The company plans on doing three phases of testing. The first, currently underway, aims at solidifying the vehicles structure so that it can actually get all the way to space.

Next up is the “cabin testing” where they’ll simulate procedures that will happen inside the ship during passenger flights.

Whitesides explains:

“Because we’re going to let people get out of their seats, we want to make sure they’re properly trained.

“That we can properly train them to make sure to get out of their seat and back in their seat. That they can move around the cabin. It’s just to make sure that the procedures we’ve designed on the ground work well in space.”

I sincerely hope they do.

But how are you actually going to get us rich folk up there, Georgie?

“It doesn’t take off vertically, as most other vertical rockets do, but instead gets an initial boost by riding to a high altitude underneath the wing of a giant carrier aircraft, called WhiteKnightTwo.

“Once the pair reach a height of around 45,600 feet, VSS Unity is released and falls free for a few seconds. That’s when the spaceplane ignites its rocket engine, which propels the vehicle upward through the atmosphere.”

Sounds all good and well, but I should let you know that they had a fatal crash in 2014 when one of the wings shifted too early after unlocking from the system.

Four years later, 700 people are still crazy enough to have bought tickets for future flights at $250,000 (R3,3 million). If I had the cash, you could call me one of them.

[source:theverge]