Virgin Galactic Passes Second Supersonic Flight

Virgin Galactic's reusable space vehicle SpaceShipTwo (SS2) completed its second supersonic flight on Thursday, achieving the highest altitude and greatest speed to date.

The spacecraft took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port, carried by the company's WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft until it reached 46,000 feet, at which point SS2 pilots ignited the rocket motor for the planned 20-second burn, propelling the spaceship to nearly 70,000 feet.

"We couldn't be more delighted to have another major supersonic milestone under our belts as we move toward a 2014 start of commercial service," Virgin Galactic Founder Richard Branson said in a statement.

The test flight marked the first demonstration of the vehicle's full technical mission profile in a single flight, including a high-altitude deployment of its innovative wing "feathering" re-entry mechanism. 

According to the company's site, the feathering system employs "aerodynamic design and the laws of physics for a carefree and heat free re-entry followed by a glide runway landing." Designed by Burt Rutan, the famed aerospace engineer and founder of the company Scaled Composites, this feature allows "an automatic control of attitude with the fuselage parallel to the horizon." This in turn creates a high amount of drag as the space vehicle descends through the atmosphere.

Of the achievement, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said, "Each powered flight of SpaceShipTwo yields cumulative progress that builds the foundation for safe and exciting commercial space flights."

Founded with the goal of commercializing space flight, Virgin Galactic has already started booking flights aboard the SS2 at $250,000 a seat with plans to begin carrying passengers by 2015. The company made headlines in June when it was announced that Justin Bieber had reserved a seat aboard the spacecraft. In doing so, the performer joined the likes of Angelina Jolie, Ashton Kutcher and Leonardo DiCaprio, according to a report by The Washington Post at the time.