Virgin spaceship in first solo trip

"Virgin Galactic's space tourism rocket SpaceShipTwo has completed its first solo glide flight, marking another step in the company's eventual plans to fly paying passengers.

SpaceShipTwo was carried aloft by its mothership to an altitude of 45,000 feet and released over the Mojave Desert. After the separation, SpaceShipTwo, manned by two pilots, flew freely for 11 minutes before landing at an airport runway followed by the mothership.

The entire test flight lasted about 25 minutes, and Virgin Galactic chief executive George Whitesides said: "It flew beautifully."

The six-passenger SpaceShipTwo is undergoing rigorous testing before it can carry tourists to space. In the latest test, SpaceShipTwo did not fire its rocket engine to climb to space.

Until now, SpaceShipTwo has flown attached to the wing of its special jet-powered mothership, dubbed WhiteKnightTwo, and this was the first time the spaceship has flown on its own.

The news was hailed by space tourism advocates, with John Gedmark, executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, saying: "The flight marks another key milestone towards opening the space frontier for private individuals, researchers, and explorers.""

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