Today there was a job fair in Mojave put on by Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company. Obviously both of these companies are on the short list of places that I would get to work at only in my wildest dreams. But I really do have those dreams and they have the jobs, so I hustled on up there to say “Howdy!”, drop a resume, and charm someone with my elevator pitch.
We’ll see if anything comes of it (I’m eternally optimistic, but I’m not looking at rentals in the high desert just yet), but meanwhile our hosts were nice enough to put their current projects on display out on the ramp for us.
Behold, the current spaceships of Virgin Galactic! On the left is WhiteKnightTwo, the first of the Virgin Motherships, christened VMS Eve, named after company founder Sir Richard Branson’s mother. On the right is the first SpaceShipTwo, which had its second powered test flight just last Thursday, reaching 69,000 feet after a twenty-second engine burn.
A slightly closer view of the WhiteKnightTwo. In the center of the wing you can see the attachment point where the SpaceShipTwo is held while it’s taken up to about 50,000 feet before being dropped for launch.
The WhiteKnightTwo design is the largest all carbon composite aircraft ever built. Eventually it is anticipated that there will be several of these built to launch suborbital flights from multiple sites around the world.
Up close and personal with the SpaceShipTwo. Notice that there is no front wheel – a skid is used instead.
A view of the port side of SpaceShipTwo. Eventually it is expected that dozens (if not more) SpaceShipTwos will be built, taking tourists, experiments, and other paying customers on suborbital trips. The turnaround time between trips for any given ship is expected to be hours instead of months, allowing many more flights and a much less expensive cost than all previous spacecraft.
The starboard side of SpaceShipTwo. I was surprised to see how small the landing gear wheels are.
All in all it was a great opportunity to see some cutting edge aviation and spacecraft hardware. The only way it could be better is if I’m able to join the team building and flying them. Let’s hope that can work out – they have my number!
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 