Virgin Galactic takes off!

Dawn in mojave preparing for gf01 - Virgin GalacticVirgin Galactic has undergone its big we-are-ready moment.  On October 10, 2010, they successfully released and glided the VSS Enterprise, class SpaceShipTwo, from its mothership (at an altitude of 45,000 feet) to the landing strip in Mojave, CA.

The two main goals of this test flight were to have a “clean release of the spaceship from its mothership” and to have the pilots free fly and glide the VSS Enterprise back to Space Port in California.

In case your interested, the mothership is named Eve, class WhiteKnightTwo.  For those of us interested in the private sector (aka, commercial) space race, this is exciting news.

Here’s the official edited Youtube video: