WhiteKnightTwo Rolled Out In Mojave

Story And Photos
By Jim Mumaw

Weird purple lights illuminated the area while esoteric, ethereal music played especially for 300 people last month who had coughed up $200,000 apiece to be the first civilians in space.

They came from around the world to gather under a frigid, windswept Mojave night sky to see the first public showing of the craft that will take them to 100,000 feet, high enough to see the curvature of the earth.

The celebratory occasion was the roll-out of Scaled Composites' latest sky voyager for Virgin Galactic, SpaceShipTwo. Some 800 people in all braved the icy blasts and huddled inside temporary tents along with the governors of California and New Mexico, Arnold Schwarzenneger and Bill Richardson, respectively, along with designer Burt Rutan and money man Sir Richard Branson, to admire the futuristic looking craft.

Actually, there were two aerial vehicles on hand; the "mother ship," WhiteKnightTwo, and slung in the middle was its cargo, the VSS (Virgin Space Ship) "Enterprise," a six passenger, two-pilot rocket ship which will be dropped from WK2 at 50,000 feet and ignite its engines for the nine and a half mile trip to the edge of space and four or five minutes of weightlessness before dead-sticking its way back to home plate in New Mexico.

The Scaled Composites Model 348 White Knight Two (WK2) is a four jet-powered carrier aircraft as the first stage of Tier 1b, a two-stage to suborbital-space manned launch system. WK2 is based on the successful mothership to SpaceShipOne, White Knight, which itself is based on Rutan's Proteus.

Branson's Virgin Galactic has ordered two WhiteKnightTwos and together WK2 and SS2 form the basis for Virgin Galactic's fleet of suborbital spaceplanes, which will be launched from the New Mexico spaceport near Las Cruces following intensive testing.

The first WhiteKnightTwo is named VMS "Eve" after Branson's mother; it was officially unveiled on July 28, 2008, and flew for the first time on December 21, 2008. The second is expected to be named VMS "Spirit of Steve Fossett" after Branson's close friend, who was killed in the crash of a borrowed Decathlon on Sept. 3, 2007.

Testing will begin immediately, followed by the first flight tentatively planned to be sometime in 2011, with Rutan, Branson and his family on the first trip. On stage the principals spoke of the progress the project has made as well as the future of private spacecraft and private citizen-astronauts.

Rutan also called up those from Scaled Composites who helped to make the craft a reality. At times, the event seemed more like a USO show as Schwarzenegger and Richardson traded good-natured barbs while acknowledging the important part played by their respective states in the project. California, of course, is home to the research, building and testing of the aircraft and spacecraft involved.

New Mexico is set to become the launch pad for the future civilian spaceflights after investing major funds in development of their Spaceport America. New Mexico was also the home to Richard Goddard's pioneering experiments with rockets powered by liquid propellant in the 1930s near Roswell, not to mention the White Sands Missile Range.

While the mothership, WhiteKnightTwo was christened VMS Eve, SpaceShipTwo was christened "VSS Enterprise," a name shared by no less than eight American vessels, including the world's first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, several British ships and the main vessel of the TV series Star Trek.

As outside gusts brought the wind chill into the teens, those inside the specially erected compound enjoyed a first class celebration. There was an ice sculpture of an astronaut as well as an ice bar constructed by those responsible for the renowned Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden.

The event was first-class all the way as evidenced by the most elegant portable restrooms yet seen - finished off in rich mahogany!

SpaceShipTwo has the same rotatable tail, like a shuttlecock, to allow it to safely reenter the earth's atmosphere without worrying about heat shields and inflammable tiles (something NASA hasn't gotten around to yet). The craft is built from lightweight composite materials and similar to SpaceShipOne, which won the $10 million Ansari X prize in 2004, except it's twice as large - 60 feet long with a roomy cabin the size of an executive bizjet, has more windows including some in the overhead, and can carry six well-heeled passengers.

One of those who put down his money five years ago was Portuguese businessman Mario Ferrera, 41, who said he did it because he wanted to be "the first Portuguese to go to space." Echoing a similar desire was Los Angeles resident Natasha Pavlovich, 31, originally from Serbia.

She had to borrow money from family and use up all her credit to pay for the ticket she said, but noted that "Serbs have gotten a bad name in the press. I want to uplift all Serbs." Or so the LA Times reported.

All will have to pass physical tests before being allowed to ride in the rocket craft.

Whether it was because of the weather or just as a valued souvenir, Scaled Composites handed out signature windbreakers and hats to all those in attendance, but the howling winds threatened to disrupt the proceedings. Whether that's an omen or not remains to be seen.

But for the interim, at least, the mood was positive, upbeat and definitely weird. For the record, the word "Enterprise" is literally defined as boldness, energy and invention in practical affairs.

You could hardly find a more appropriate name for these remarkable aircraft.

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The author added this later: "It's a good thing that there were elegant facilities as they were most likely needed when the winds picked up and authorities decided to evacuate the guests from the party. According to Branson, "... We were all in the tents when the evacuation was called. Twenty minutes after the last of the 800 guests had been coached away, the main 200ft tent literally took off."

Wind gusts up to 116mph were reported.