VMS Eve

VMS Eve's maiden flight December 21, 2008

WhiteKnightTwo at its rollout and christening ceremony, July 28. 2008

VMS Eve^[1] (Tail Number: N348MS^[2]) is a carrier mothership for Virgin Galactic and launch platform for Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo-based Virgin SpaceShips.

VMS Eve is the first, and so far only, WhiteKnightTwo, built by Scaled Composites for Virgin Galactic. The "VMS" prefix stands for "Virgin Mothership".^[3]

Public Launch

VMS Eve's nose art

The aircraft was named after Evette Branson, the mother of Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin Group. The jet plane has nose art of a blond woman holding the Virgin Galactic corporate flag.^[4] The image is based on how Evette Branson looked when she was younger and is called Galactic Girl.^[5] The aircraft was officially launched on Monday, July 28, 2008, in Mojave, California, USA, at the Mojave Spaceport, home of Scaled Composites. On December 12, 2008, the aircraft performed first taxi tests,^[6] and a week later the maiden flight.^[7] Eve will be used in the Virgin Galactic testflight program, preceding entry into commercial usage.^[8]

It is the largest all composite aircraft ever constructed and has the longest single-piece composite aircraft part: a 140 ft (43 m) long wingspar.^[9] Burt Rutan has dismissed fears that pressurization cycles might induce fatigue failure in the composite structure.^[10] Richard Branson has also announced that it will be highly fuel efficient.^[11]

Flight test program

The initial flight tests were planned to begin in early September 2008^[12][13][14] but they were delayed.^[15] The flight tests were expected to be complete by September, 2009.^[16]

• December 12, 2008 -- WhiteKnightTwo did a low speed taxi trial at Mojave.^[17]
• December 16, 2008 -- WhiteKnightTwo did a high speed taxi trial at Mojave.^[18]

Designation codes

GFxx=Glided flight of the SpaceshipTwo after release from White Knight 2. CCxx=Captive Carry of the SpaceshipTwo. Pxx=Powered flight (SS2?) GCxx=Aborted glided flight

Total flighttime

Total flight time for WK2 as of september 1st 2011=205,06 hours

Flights

#	Date	Designation	Notes	Length of flight (hours)
1	December 21, 2008	None	WhiteKnightTwo maiden testflight.[19][20] The two pilots were Peter Siebold and co-pilot Clint Nichols.[21]	1
2	February 5, 2009	None	Testflight after some modifications to the airframe.[22]	1,5
3	March 25, 2009	None	Testflight into the troposphere was the fastest and longest yet: >140 knots and >18,000 feet. Seven additional tests were "successfully completed including in flight engine restarts, engine thrust asymmetry assessment and continued expansion of WK2’s operating envelope and evaluation of WK2’s handling qualities."[23]	2,33
4	April 20, 2009	None	Test flight lasted over 4 hours and ended with slight damage to the rudder, due to a tail-strike.[24][25]	4
5	May 20, 2009	None	Test flight lasted about 3 hours and was the highest yet (20000 feet). An emergency response drill was conducted after landing.[26]	approximately 3
6	June 2, 2009	None	Extending flight- and speed envelope.	3,1
7	June 8, 2009	None	Test flight lasted 6 hours and increased maximum altitude 14,716 meters (45,000 feet). Wind-up turns were performed to 2.5g. Engines were shut down and restarted per plan.[26]	6,1
8	June 11, 2009	None	Test flight monitored by FAA resulted in issuance of pilot letter of authorization.[26]	1
9	June 15, 2009	None	Test flight lasted 7.5 hours and increased maximum altitude to 15972 meters (52400 feet). Speed envelope increased to 370 KTAS. Engines were shut down and restarted per plan.[26]	7,5[27]
10	June 19, 2009	None	Test flight to Phoenix, including landing at Phoenix.[26][28]	6?
11	June 20, 2009	None	Flyover of Las Cruces airport, New Mexico, having taken off earlier that morning from Phoenix. Flyovers included a total of six passes over the airport, three of these were low-altitude runway passes on two different runways with one a near-touch-and-go.[26][28]	3?
12	July 9, 2009	None	Testing cabin environmental control system (heating/cooling) and third-seat flight engineer capabilities. Flight maximum altitude 51000 feet.[26]	4,5
13	July 14,2009	None		5
14	July 17, 2009	None		0,9
15	July 21, 2009	None		5,7
16	July 27, 2009	None		5,5
17	July 28, 2009	None	Demonstration for EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2009 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, WI.[citation needed]	0,2
18	July 31, 2009	None		0,2
19	August 1, 2009	None		5,1
20	October 15, 2009	None		3,5
21	October 17, 2009	None		1,3
22	October 17, 2009	None		1,2
23	January 28, 2010	None		3,1
24	March 4, 2010	None		3,7
25	March 22, 2010	CC01	First test flight with SpaceShip2 attached, to 45,000 feet altitude, duration nearly three hours.[29]	2,9
26	May 1, 2010	None		5,5
27	May 16, 2010	CC02	Test flight with the SS2 attached.	4,7
28	June 15, 2010	None		5,3
29	June 24, 2010	None		3,4
30	June 24, 2010	None		2
31	June 30, 2010	None		5,3
32	July 1, 2010	None		5,3
33	July 15, 2010	CC03	Test flight with the SS2 attached to the mothership.	6,2
34	August 3, 2010	None		6,2
35	August 11, 2010	None		3,7
36	August 18, 2010	None		3,9
37	August 19, 2010	None	The landing gear partly malfunctioned which lead to a minor accident, further test flights has taken place afterwards. [30]	1,5
38	September 13, 2010	None		2,5
39	September 30, 2010	CC04	Test flight with the SS2 attached to the mothership.	5
40	October 5, 2010	None	Flight without the SS2.	2
41	October 10, 2010	GF01	First separation in the air with the Space Ship Two (SS2).[31]	1,5
42	October 22, 2010	CC05		3,4
43	October 22, 2010	CC06	the WK2 and SS2 made a publicity flight at the future spaceport in New Mexico[32].	3,4
44	October 28, 2010	GF02	2nd separation in the air with Space Ship Two [33].	1,1
45	November 17, 2010	GF03	another separation of the SS2 which glided to earth.	2
46	December 4, 2010	None	Flight testing with the SS2 attached[34]	2,5
47	January 13, 2011	GF04	Fourth in-air separation with Space Ship Two.	1,4
48	February 14, 2011	05GC(CC07)	Test flight with the WK2 and SS2, partly failed due to poor weather.	1,35
49	February 15, 2011	05GC(CC08)	Test flight with the WK2 and SS2, partly failed due to poor weather.	1,83
50	March 30, 2011	None	First flight of two during the day, without the SS2.	3,25
51	March 30, 2011	None	Second flight during the day, without the SS2.	1,7
52	April 6, 2011	CC09	Visit to San Francisco airport with the SS2 attached.	2,83
53	April 7, 2011	CC10	Return from San Francisco airport with the SS2 attached.	1,35
54	April 11, 2011	None	Test flight	1,76
55	April 14, 2011	CC11	Another test flight	3,07
56	April 22, 2011	GF05	Another test flight	1,4
57	April 27, 2011	GF06	Release of SS2	1,26
58	May 4, 2011	GF07	Release of SS2, first test of featuring to reduce flightspeed of the SS2 while gliding back to earth.	2,03
59	May 10, 2011	GF08	Release of SS2	1,42
60	May 19, 2011	GF09	Release of SS2	1,38
61	May 25, 2011	GF10	Release of SS2, Second test of featuring device to reduce airspeed of the SS2 when it glideflight back to earth.	1,83
62	June 9, 2011	CC12	Aborted mission due to technical problems.	1,4
63	June 10, 2011	None	Maximum landing weight test.	0,2
64	June 14, 2011	GF11	Release of SS2, after failure to do so on flight #62.	1,2
65	June 15, 2011	GF12	Release of SS2	1,9
66	June 21, 2011	GF13	Release of SS2	1,5
67	June 23, 2011	GF14	Release of SS2	1,6
68	June 27, 2011	GF15	Release of SS2	1,9
69	August 11, 2011	None		2,1
70	August 17, 2011	None		1,1
71	August 18, 2011	None		3,2
72	August 31, 2011	None		3,1

Flight 9 longest flight as of august 14th 2011

References

Notes

Citations

1. ^ Karl Vick (July 29, 2008), "Mother Ship Unveiled for $200,000 Place in Space", Washington Post: A02, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/28/AR2008072801154.html?hpid=topnews 
2. ^ "FAA N Number Registration for "Eve"". http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=348MS. Retrieved 2008-07-28. 
3. ^ CNet News, Virgin Galactic's faces of Eve, July 28, 2008 1:08 PM PDT, Candace Lombardi
4. ^ ABC News, Virgin Galactic Announces New Space Aircraft, July 28, 2008, LAUREN SHER
5. ^ Chicago Tribune, Branson reveals mother ship, July 29, 2008
6. ^ AVweb, WhiteKnight2 Completes Taxi Test, December 16, 2008
7. ^ The Space Fellowship, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Mothership Makes Maiden Flight, December 21, 2008
8. ^ The Register, Branson unveils Virgin Galactic mothership, Tuesday 29th July 2008 10:32 GMT, Scott Snowden
9. ^ eFluxMedia, WhiteKnightTwo Offers Space As The Ultimate Tourist Destination, 12:08, July 29, 2008, Dee Chisamera'
10. ^ Flightglobal, Rutan: Fatigue 'is not an issue' for WhiteKnightTwo, 29/07/08 ,Rob Coppinger
11. ^ National Geographic, Virgin Galactic Unveils WhiteKnightTwo Space Plane, July 28, 2008, Ker Than
12. ^ Leonard David (June 6, 2008). "Virgin Galactic Spaceline: Mega-Mothership Set for Rollout Debut". SPACE.com. http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/080606-virgin-mother.html. Retrieved 2008-06-10. 
13. ^ "2008 AirVenture Oshkosh schedule". http://www.airventure.org/2008/news/080605_ss2.html. Retrieved 2008-07-19. 
14. ^ Forbes: Interview with Branson, 16 Oct 2008
15. ^ "Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo first flight delayed to year's end". http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/09/30/316547/virgin-galactics-whiteknighttwo-first-flight-delayed-to-years-end.html. Retrieved 2008-10-07. 
16. ^ http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/04/30/325832/scaled-plans-50000ft-whiteknight-two-flight-by-september.html
17. ^ "SpaceShipTwo mothership runway trial". http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/12/13/320125/world-exclusive-video-spaceshiptwo-mothership-runway.html. Retrieved 2008-12-16. 
18. ^ "WhiteKnightTwo makes high speed taxi, deploys spoilers". http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/12/17/320251/exclusive-video-whiteknighttwo-makes-high-speed-taxi-deploys.html. Retrieved 2008-12-23. 
19. ^ "WhiteKnightTwo Makes First Flight Aviation Week". http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/WHITE12228.xml&headline=WhiteKnightTwo%20Makes%20First%20Flight. Retrieved 2008-12-23. 
20. ^ http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2008/12/whiteknighttwo_takes_flight.html
21. ^ [1]
22. ^ http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/02/06/322203/whiteknighttwo-second-flight-with-vortex-generators.html
23. ^ "Test flying programme for Virgin Galactic space launch system now fully underway : mother ship Eve achieves fastest and longest yet flight in the troposphere". Virgin Galactic. 2009-03-26. http://www.virgingalactic.com/testflight/content/other/PressRelease%20Virgin%20Galactic%20VMS%20Eve%20Test%20Flight%20PressRelease%2026%2003%2009.doc. Retrieved 2009-03-27. ^{[dead link]}
24. ^ Coppinger, Rob, "Virgin Galactic's mother ship suffers tail strike" Flight International, April 21, 2009
25. ^ David, Leonard, "SpaceShipTwo Mother Ship Slightly Dinged in Test Flight", Space.com, April 21, 2009
26. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Scaled Composites, "White Knight Two Flight Test Summaries" (accessed 25 May, 2009)
27. ^ Total flight time for WK2 as of June 21st 2011 was 192 hours
28. ^ ^{a b} http://www.personalspaceflight.info/
29. ^ http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/03/photos-spaceshiptwo-completes-first-captive-flight SpaceShipTwo Completes First Captive Flight], Jason Paur, Wired, 2010-03-22, accessed 2010-03-24./
30. ^ [2]
31. ^ [3]
32. ^ [4]
33. ^ [5]
34. ^ http://www.scaled.com/projects/whiteknighttwo_spaceshiptwo_test_summaries

Bibliography

• BBC News, Branson unveils space tourism jet, 20:42 GMT, Monday, 28 July 2008 UK
• LA Times, Richard Branson unveils his space plane, July 29, 2008, Peter Pae
• Wired, Virgin Galactic Unveils White Knight Two Launch Vehicle, 07.29.08,Dave Bullock
• New York Times, New Steps in Private Space Travel, July 29, 2008, John Schwartz
• Reuters, Branson unveils plane to launch spaceship, Mon Jul 28, 2008 Fred Prouser
• Associated Press, New space race heats up with unveiling of aircraft, Alicia Chang
• Scientific American, Forget the Dark Knight--the White Knight Two mothership has arrived, Jul 28, 2008 Adam Hadhazy
• New Scientist, Virgin Galactic rolls out SpaceShipTwo's 'mothership', 28 July 2008, Rachel Courtland
• Telegraph, Sir Richard Branson unveils Virgin's spaceship, 29 Jul 2008, James Quinn

External links

• Virgin Galactic - news
• Scaled Composites, Virgin Galactic Rolls Out Mothership "Eve" - Jul 28, 2008 Press Release
• Scaled Composites, WHITEKNIGHTTWO FLIGHT TEST SUMMARIES

See also

• VMS Spirit of Steve Fossett - anticipated second WK2 for Virgin Galactic
• SpaceShipTwo
  • VSS Enterprise
  • VSS Voyager
• Tier 1b
  • The Spaceship Company
  • Mojave Aerospace Ventures
• Space tourism

• Tier One
  • SpaceShipOne
  • Scaled Composites White Knight
  • Ansari X-Prize