Burt Rutan, retired head of Scaled Composites, receives Flightglobal's Lifetime Achievement Award "for bringing to life some of the world's most unique and innovative aircraft – leading to long-range flight breakthroughs and the beginning of commercial space travel.": Flightglobal Achievement Awards 2011

“What [Johnson] did – to emphasise small teams working alone, questioning regulations – worked so beautifully well he could say ‘no’ to those who wanted to change things,” Rutan said in a recent interview.

“Kelly had a wonderful, unusual success in getting away with saying ‘no’ when he felt that it was important to his principles,” Rutan said.

Saying “no” is an under-appreciated skill for an aeronautical research engineer, and few wielded the word with more authority than Johnson and Rutan. When used effectively, the word “no” blocks the interference of corporate and government meddlers, who can overwhelm a project in reviews and reports in the name of keeping it “on track”.

Rocketeer comments: Hrm. Could definitely do with some of that in Commercial Crew Program. Burt, you're needed.

(Source: Scaled Composites)

SS2 experienced a "stall of the tails" on its latest flight, which was corrected by entering feathered flight mode.

Flight: 73 / GF16
Date: 29 Sep 11
Flight Time: 7 min, 15 sec
SS2 Pilot: Stucky
SS2 CoPilot: Nichols
SS2 FTE: Persall
GS Crew: Alsbury, Verderame, Kalogiannis, Vannoy, Glasser, Reid, Inks, Tighe

Objectives:
Post maintenance functional check flight
Clean release
Evaluate stability and control
Flutter expansion
Previous flutter point validation
Increased weight landing (using water ballast)
Pilot proficiency

Results:
Test card called for releasing the Spaceship from WhiteKnightTwo and immediately entering a rapid descent. Upon release, the Spaceship experienced a downward pitch rate that caused a stall of the tails. The crew followed procedure, selecting the feather mode to revert to a benign condition. The crew then defeathered and had a nominal return to base. Great flying by the team and good demo of feather system.

Latest update video by The Spaceship Company, joint venture between Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic. Note that WK2 tail #2 is already under construction.

(Source: Virgin Galactic press release)

MOJAVE, Calif. ― The Spaceship Company (TSC), the aerospace production joint venture of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites, achieved a significant milestone in making commercial space travel a reality with today’s opening of its Final Assembly, Integration and Test Hangar, or FAITH, at Mojave Air and Space Port. The $8 million, modern, energy-efficient hangar supports the final stages of production for prime customer Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo, and will add new jobs to the commercial space industry at spaceports in Mojave and New Mexico.

Commenting on the grand opening, Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson said, “Today marks another important step along the road to opening space for everyone. We’re extremely proud of the new FAITH building, which is the world’s first facility dedicated to producing private, commercial manned space vehicles. From this hangar, the talented team at The Spaceship Company will be at the forefront of making space access safe, reliable and affordable.”

Located on taxiway-B, FAITH is a 68,000-square-foot, LEED-certified facility that will be used primarily for the final assembly, integration and testing of TSC vehicles before they are delivered to their customers. FAITH will also be used to support major return-to-base vehicle maintenance, and serve as TSC’s operating headquarters.

“We take great pride in the opening of FAITH as an accomplishment for our company, our current and future customers and our industry,” said The Spaceship Company Vice President, Operations Enrico Palermo. “Within this new facility, we will produce the highest quality commercial spaceflight systems.”

FAITH completes the infrastructure needed to manufacture a fleet of TSC’s two core products: the SpaceShipTwo (SS2) sub-orbital spaceship and the WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft. The facility is specifically sized to support fabrication of SS2 and WK2 with room to produce at least two of each ship at the same time.

“Not only are we welcoming a new neighbor at the Mojave Air and Space Port today, we’re ushering in another phase in the development of commercial space travel,” said President of Scaled Composites Doug Shane. “It’s exciting to see the vision becoming a reality.”

FAITH was completed within 10 months, as scheduled, and on budget by Bakersfield-based Wallace & Smith General Contractors. It is one of two facilities that TSC will use to produce commercial spacecraft. The other is a 48,000-square-foot existing building at the Mojave Air and Space Port that TSC recently upgraded to serve as the company’s fabrication and vehicle sub-assembly facility. TSC has secured options to expand the size of the FAITH facility and build an adjacent flight test hangar, as the customer base grows.

The opening of FAITH also means a boost to our local economies with impact in California and New Mexico. TSC currently employs over 80 people and is looking to double its workforce within the next year, with numerous high-tech and engineering positions available in the next 90 days.

“Despite the current state of the U.S. economy and rising unemployment, this is a strong time of growth for The Spaceship Company,” Palermo said. “We are creating excellent, high-skilled job opportunities for individuals with aerospace, engineering and hands-on space program experience. We want employees who are passionate about developing new and innovative ways of accessing space.”

(Source: Parabolic Arc)

The Spaceship Company, a Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites joint venture, is ramping up to produce the first commercial WK2s and SS2s.

TSC was initially tasked with making one WK2 and four SS2s for Virgin Galactic, and Operations Director Enrico Palermo says: “I’m confident we’ll be building more.” Together with the first WK2 and SS2 already built and in test, Virgin plans to operate an initial fleet of two carriers and five spacecraft, though hopes are high that other “spaceline” customers will emerge.

For now, Palermo says, “our blinders are set on serving our first customer, and getting these spacecraft flying.” With flight tests of the first SS2 accelerating and the first rocket-powered flights expected in coming months, the configuration of the production variants of both spacecraft and carrier aircraft are close to finalization. “WK2 is flying and meeting its objectives, so that’s more or less set,” says Joe Brennan, TSC vehicle production manager, who adds that the company is also “pretty happy” with the minor design changes on the SS2 required so far.

Continue reading...

(Source: Scaled Composites)

Three more SS2 glide flights in the space of a week continue Scaled's aggressive flight test schedule:-

Flight: 68 / GF15
Date: 27 Jun 11 Flight Time: 7 min, 39 sec
SS2 Pilot: Siebold SS2 CoPilot: Binnie
GS Crew: Tighe, Bassett, Inks, Verderame, Persall, Knupp, Zeitlin, Reid

Objectives:
Continued airspeed flutter susceptibility envelope expansion

Results:
All objectives achieved. Dynamic pressure envelope further expanded.

Flight: 67 / GF14
Date: 23 Jun 11 Flight Time: 7 min, 33 sec
SS2 Pilot: Stucky SS2 CoPilot: Nichols
GS Crew: Tighe, Verderame, Persall, Bassett, Glaser, Reid, Knupp, Inks

Objectives:
Continued mach and airspeed flutter susceptibility envelope expansion

Results:
All objectives achieved.

Flight: 66 / GF13
Date: 21 Jun 11 Flight Time: 8 min, 55 sec
SS2 Pilot: Siebold SS2 CoPilot: Nichols
GS Crew: Tighe, Persall, Verderame, Bassett, Glaser, Reid, Knupp, Inks

Objectives:
Continued flutter susceptibility envelope expansion

Results:
All objectives achieved.

Leonard David provides an update on the SS2 flight test programme:

• Privately-Built SpaceShipTwo Keeps Passing Glide Tests With Flying Colors -- Space.com

  On the future flight manifest is a test run using a hybrid motor mounted within SpaceShipTwo. That powerhouse engine is being crafted by Sierra Nevada Corp. Short bursts to ever-longer burns of the motor in-flight are being planned, with the date of the first in-flight firing of the motor still to be determined.

  The VSS Enterprise test flight program will continue through 2011.

(Source: Virgin Galactic press release)

MOJAVE, 15 JUNE 2011: More exciting news from the Mojave Desert this morning with confirmation that SpaceShipTwo, VSS Enterprise, had completed two successful glide flights within 24 hours.

This was the quickest turnaround time yet between VSS Enterprise solo flights, reinforcing the unique and transformational ability of Virgin Galactic’s spaceflight system to undertake daily flights to space.

Both flights saw early morning take-offs for VSS Enterprise, in mated configuration with the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, followed by high altitude releases at around 52,000ft and glides back to smooth touch-downs on the Mojave Air and Spaceport runway. Both flights were part of a continuing program of envelope expansion, specifically focussing on speed and susceptibility for flutter.

This morning’s flight was the 12th solo flight for SpaceShipTwo since its inaugural glide flight on 10th October 2010, including two successful “feather” flights which demonstrated the spaceship’s unique re-entry configuration.

The quick turnaround between the latest two flights demonstrates an important factor in Virgin Galactic’s planned commercial operations, which will see daily flights of both carrier aircraft and spaceship to accommodate the fast growing demand from both space tourists and researchers.

Congratulations to the whole team at Scaled Composites and particularly to SpaceShipTwo test pilots Pete Siebold, Doug Shane, Mark Stucky and Clint Nichols.

(Source: Scaled Composites)

Flight: 61 / GF10
Date: 25 May 11
Flight Time: 10 min, 14 sec
SS2 Pilot: Stucky SS2 CoPilot: Binnie
GS Crew: Nichols, Verderame, Bassett, Bozarth, Persall, Glaser, Inks, Tighe

Objectives:
Second feather flight
Evaluate feather configuration stability with nose strakes installed
Low altitude flutter envelope expansion
Shortened runway approach and landing validation

Results:
All objectives achieved. Much improved longitudinal dynamics in the feather configuration.

From the Virgin Galactic news page:-

More exciting news from Mojave this morning! At 7am, SpaceShipTwo touched down safely having completed a second “feather” flight.

One further glide flight, potentially within the next week or so, will see the completion of an unprecedented period of successful test flight activity (six flights in around a month) and herald the start of a couple of months of slightly less visible activity.

Scaled has amassed a wealth of data and experience from the recent flurry of test flights which is now undergoing thorough analysis. Engineers will be addressing any issues arising from this, as well as performing detailed vehicle checks as they prepare the spaceship and carrier aircraft for the next phase of flight testing.

Congratulations to the whole team at Scaled for the dedication and hard work that has made so many flights possible in such a short time period.

Rocketeer comments: There is speculation as to whether the 'couple of months of ... less visible activity' involves integration of the hybrid motor, so that the 'next phase' of flight tests will be powered flights.