Virgin Galactic's suborbital passenger ship SpaceShipTwo flexes its feathered re-entry system during a pivotal glide test at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California on May 4, 2011.
Virgin Galactic's first SpaceShipTwo passenger spacecraft leaves contrails in its wake during a Jan. 13, 2011, glide test, the fourth in a series of demonstration flights.
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo makes its first solo test flight Oct. 10, 2010.
SpaceShipTwo makes a May 4, 2011, landing on Runway 30 at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. Touch down signaled the successful end to the craft's 7th glide test and, for the first time, evaluation of its novel feather re-entry system.
The Virgin Galactic suborbital spaceliner SpaceShipTwo makes its first crewed flight on July 15, 2010, over the Mojave Desert in California, one of a series of test flights before the first free flight of the passenger ship for space tourism flights.
WhiteKnightTwo took to the air for the first time Sunday morning, Dec. 21, 2008, following several weeks of taxi tests. The big, twin fuselage airplane took off at 8:17 a.m. PST and landed an hour later to the applause of spectators watching at the Mojave Air and Spaceport.
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo private suborbital spacecraft makes its first solo test flight on October 10, 2010.
WhiteKnightTwo makes a runway taxi appearance at Mojave Air and Space Port.
SpaceShipTwo after its 2nd glide test.
The Virgin Galactic suborbital vehicle SpaceShipTwo, called Enterprise, soars over New Mexico's Spaceport America terminal – still under construction – under the belly of its huge mothership WhiteKnightTwo during the spaceport’s runway dedication ceremony on Oct. 22, 2010.
SpaceShipTwo is towed back to the hangar Jan. 13, 2011, under the watchful eye of East Kern Airport District Security Chief Mike Sterbens after a successful drop test and landing at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California.
The SpaceShipTwo carrier plane WhiteKnightTwo takes off in an April 20, 2009, flight test, a 4-hour endurance trip that marked its longest flight
The SpaceShipTwo mothership WhiteKnightTwo took to the air for the first time on Dec. 21, 2008, following several weeks of taxi tests.
Virgin Galatic rolls out mothership "Eve" at Scaled Composities in Mojave on July 28, 2008.
Friday, June 17, 2011: Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo mothership carrying SpaceShipTwo flew alongside Virgin America’s Airbus A320, named "My Other Ride Is a Spaceship," to inaugurate San Francisco International Airport (SFO)'s new Terminal 2 on April 6, 2011. SpaceShipTwo is a rocket-powered space plane intended to eventually take passengers to sub-orbital space.
—Tom Chao
Virgin Galactic's private SpaceShipTwo spacecraft and its mothership WhiteKnightTwo flies over the Golden Gate Bridge with the Virgin America plane "My Other Ride is a Spaceship" on April 6, 2011, en route to open Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Airport.
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo private spaceliner flies over San Francisco's Bay Area Bridge with the city as a backdrop while en route to San Francisco International Airport with the Virgin America aircraft "My Other Ride is a Spaceship" to open a new terminal at San Francisco International Airport on April 6, 2011.
After its fifth glide test flight – the longest one yet – Virgin Galactic's first SpaceShipTwo passenger spaceship touches down on a runway at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California on April 22, 2011.
WhiteKnightTwo during a low-level flyover June 20, 2009, at the Las Cruces International Airport in New Mexico.
The private space plane SpaceShipTwo lands after a successful glide test June 21 at Mojave Air and Space Port in California.
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo passenger spacecraft and its WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane are seen flying with the moon below during an April 22, 2011, glide test over the Mojave Air and Space Port in California.
Photojournalist Bill Deaver snapped this photo of Virgin Galactic's first SpaceShipTwo spaceliner on the runway after its fifth glide test flight on April 22, 2011, at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California.
Virgin Galactic's mothership, WhiteKnightTwo, on a test flight from the Mojave Air and Spaceport in California.
The mothership WhiteKnightTwo soars over Mojave Air and Space Port in California after releasing the private space plane SpaceShipTwo.
