The plan had been for Kairos – an ancient Greek word meaning “the right moment” – to put the satellite into orbit about 51 minutes after take-off.
On Sunday night, the sky above Johannesburg shone bright with strange lights for a moment, leaving many residents wondering what was going on.
This new SpaceShipTwo rocket-powered test flight video documents the piloted vehicle’s flight on 10 January of this year, which set a company altitude record by reaching 71,000 feet (21,641 meters). SpaceShipTwo also attained a top speed of Mach 1.4, which is roughly 1,225 kph.