VSS Unity
American commercial sub-orbitable space ship / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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VSS Unity (Virgin Space Ship Unity, registration: N202VG), previously referred to as VSS Voyager, is a SpaceShipTwo-class suborbital rocket-powered crewed spaceplane. It is the second SpaceShipTwo to be built and is part of the Virgin Galactic fleet. It first reached space as defined by the United States (above 50 miles or 80.5 km) on 13 December 2018, on the VP-03 mission.[4]
VSS Unity | |
---|---|
Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Unity rollout, 19 February 2016, FAITH hangar, Mojave, California | |
Type | Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo |
Manufacturer | The Spaceship Company |
Construction number | 2[1] |
Registration | N202VG[2] |
First flight |
|
Owners and operators | Virgin Galactic |
In service | 2016–2024 |
Unity is able to reach space as defined by the U.S. Air Force, NASA, and the FAA, by going over 50 miles (80.5 km) above sea level. However, it is unable to go above the Kármán line, the FAI's defined space boundary of 100 km (62.1 miles).
VSS Unity was rolled out on 19 February 2016[5][6] and completed ground-based system integration testing in September 2016, prior to its first flight on 8 September 2016.[3][7][8]
Unity will be retired in 2024 as Virgin Galactic shifts its focus to the next generation Delta-class vehicles.