Virgin Galactic

It appears Virgin Galactic is looking to ramp up its commercial space services, placing orders for two more WhiteKnightTwo motherships from Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Services to support the air launch of Virgin's SpaceShipTwo spaceplane.

Are Sir Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos astronauts? Though both billionaires flew to at least the edge of space, they may not qualify for official astronaut wings according to recently revised FAA rules.

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.

The motor that powered Virgin Galactic's VSS unity into space has been donated to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, where it will be exhibited as part of its new "Future of Spaceflight" commercial space flight gallery.

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).

​​Becoming an astronaut is a famously difficult and demanding process, but when you’re the CEO of a fledgling space tourism company, perhaps you can make your own rules. Richard Branson has now revealed that if all goes to plan, he could be launching himself into space in a matter of months. ​

Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity has made its first free flight with its propulsion system installed. The sixth glide test of the passenger-carrying hypersonic craft was conducted over the Mojave Desert in California as a dry-run for future rocket powered tests.

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.

This year is shaping up as a bumper year in space with new missions ready to launch, deep space missions wrapping up, and commercial space going heavy. Here's a looks at where space exploration is taking us in 2016.​

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’s SpaceShipTwo has crashed during a test flight over the Mojave Desert in California. The spaceplane, which is designed to carry passengers into space on a suborbital trajectory, was lost after suffering a "serious anomaly."

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.