See What Its Like To Fly To the Edge of The Earth With Virgin Galactic 2
We are true fans of anything of anything space, & Virgin Galactic has kindly shown us what its like to reach the tip of earth in HD. A day after the successful second test flight of SpaceShipTwo, the company out to define commercial space travel released a video combining a camera view out the tail showing the rocket motor plume, with audio from the test pilots during the 20-second powered flight.
The video starts while SpaceShipTwo is still attached to its mother ship, WhiteKnightTwo. Moments later it’s released, and a few seconds after that — with the nitrous-oxide flowing — the rubber-fueled rocket motor is ignited.
Scaled Composites test pilots Mark Stucky and Clint Nichols get an immediate kick into the back of their seats as the spacecraft accelerates through the sound barrier. The effect of the high g-forces can be heard in their strained voices and breathing.
The first thing we hear after ignition is the call “trimming.” The former Marine Corps and NASA test pilot Mark Stucky is adjusting the trim setting on SpaceShipTwo. This change is a small, incremental adjustment in the horizontal tail surface that removes some of the control forces needed to pull back on the stick — which on SpaceShipTwo is a stick with two vertical handles to further help with the forces. This allows the pilots to begin the pitch up and climb. Like most modern aircraft, to trim the airplane the pilot moves a switch on the control stick. For comparison, an airline pilot would also adjust the trim on an airplane to remove the force needed during the climb.
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