SpaceShip Two christened "VSS Enterprise" at Mojave, CA. event. (pics)

[A HERETIC I AM]

December 7, 2009—Private commercial spaceflight inched closer to reality Monday as Virgin Galactic took the wraps off SpaceShipTwo, the VSS Enterprise, during a special unveiling event at the Mojave Air and Spaceport in California. More than 800 guests and media from around the world were on hand as Virgin Galactic Founder Sir Richard Branson and Scaled Composites Founder Burt Rutan pulled the wraps off the sleek space liner that will be the first vehicle to offer commercial suborbital space flights to the paying public.

“It could not have gone better,” said EAA President/Chairman Tom Poberezny, who was in attendance. “To see WhiteKnightTwo mated to SpaceShipTwo for the first time was indeed a sight to behold.

“It was very dramatic to see, beyond all expectations.”

Story from the website of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) can be found here.


A short news video of the event from NBC Nightly News is here.

A photo gallery is here

The event ended early due to inclement weather in Mojave. Winds strong enough to completely destroy the large tent put up for the event;

Update for 11:35 a.m. ET (8:35 a.m. PT) Dec. 8: The party broke up early: Guests were evacuated from the site of the rollout on shuttle buses at about 7:45 p.m. PT due to a high-wind advisory. Soon afterward, the tents at the site collapsed and were blown away. Amid the hubbub of the evacuation, some astronauts-to-be had to scramble to recover their personal items ... not always with success.

The confusion continued, along with the wailing winds, into the night. WhiteKnightTwo was moved to a protected location just outside its hangar, and partygoers congregated at the Mariah Country Inn and Suites while everything was sorted out.

The morning after was cold and breezy ... but there was nary a cloud in the desert sky. Eve and Enterprise were back safe inside their hangar, and Virgin Galactic's executives were relieved that everything worked out in the end with no injuries.

[buchols]

1. Branson is the best billionaire

Exactly the kind of stuff I'd do if I had that kind of cash

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. Interesting. I got a "bug" report when I hit "post message"...

This thread does not appear on the latest threads page, yet appears here.

Hmmm.