SpaceShipTwo

Virgin Galactic has come one step closer to full commercial operations as it relocates its SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity, from the company's manufacturing facility in Mojave, California, to its Spaceport America’s Gateway to Space building in New Mexico.

Virgin Galactic's manned spaceplane has hit another milestone, breaking Mach 2 as it roared into the mesosphere. With test pilots Dave Mackay and Mike “Sooch” Masucci at the controls, VSS Unity reached 170,800 ft (32.3 miles, 52 km) and a speed of Mach 2.47 (1,832 mph, 2,948 km/h).

Virgin Galactic has returned to flight status with SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity taking to the skies over Mojave, California. Though a full crew was in the cockpit, this was a captive-carry test flight, where the passenger-carrying spacecraft remained firmly attached to the mothership.

The NTSB released the conclusions of its accident investigation of the crash of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo saying that the accident was due to an error by the co-pilot, who prematurely released the spacecraft's feather system, placing too much stress on the fuselage and causing it to break up.

Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo (SS2) continues to inch toward a full suborbital test flight with its third supersonic test carried out Friday morning. The SS2 rocket engine pushed the suborbital spacecraft to an altitude of 71,000 ft (18 km) and a top speed over Mach 1.4.