Soon doing what US Government (NASA) can’t do without Russian help – putting humans in space.

NASA…too busy looking for water to justify budgets …err…the search for life.

https://apnews.com/659f385710cc46fdb381c5f6dfbb6573

By JOHN ANTCZAK

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is preparing to take the long-awaited step of trying to fly its tourism rocket ship to the edge of space.

Virgin Space Ship Unity was undergoing final checks in preparation for a test flight early Thursday that could take it far higher than before and a big step closer to turning the dream of commercial space tourism into reality.

“It’s a day that we’ve been waiting for for a long time,” CEO George Whitesides told reporters Wednesday at the Virgin Galactic facilities at Mojave Air and Space Port.

Whitesides said VSS Unity would try to fly higher than 50 miles (80 kilometers), which Virgin Galactic considers the boundary of space because it is used by the U.S. Air Force and other U.S. agencies.

That’s different than a long-held view that the boundary is at 62 miles (100 kilometers). Whitesides noted that recent research favors the lower altitude.

Test pilots Mark “Forger” Stucky and Rick “CJ” Sturckow were scheduled to be at the controls.

Virgin Galactic officials emphasized that it would be a test flight and there could be an array of reasons why it could end short of its goal or be aborted altogether.”… Read the rest of this entry »