Tier 1b
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. This article has been tagged since January 2007. |
Tier 1b is Burt Rutan's nickname for the SpaceShipTwo/White Knight Two suborbital tourist human spaceflight platform in development at Scaled Composites with Mojave Aerospace Ventures by The Spaceship Company for Virgin Galactic.
Tier 1b's White Knight Two (WK2) will be an aircraft capable of attaining atleast 50,000 ft or 15km, offering a dark sky view, and be aerobatic, offering several seconds of weightlessness. This will allow space tourists to train before their suborbital flight.
Tier 1b's SpaceShipTwo (SS2) will have a cockpit similar to SpaceShipOne, and a large cabin to allow tourists to float weightlessly. It is anticipated that the flight profile will allow for 4 minutes of weightlessness and 40 seconds transition from weightless to one g.
WK2 will carry SS2 up to launch altitude, where SS2 will airlaunch to a suborbital arc.
[edit] External links
- SPACE.com : Burt Rutan on Civilian Spaceflight, Breakthroughs, and Inside SpaceShipTwo (Leonard David) 11 August 2006 03:54 pm ET
[edit] Related content
| Designation sequence: | SpaceShipOne | → | SpaceShipTwo | → | SpaceShipThree |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Related development: | White Knight One | → | White Knight Two | → | White Knight Three |
| Development program: | Tier One (100km) | → | Tier 1b (140km)[1] | → | Tier Two (orbital) |
| Comparable aircraft: | North American X-15 & NASA X-38 & Space Shuttle | ||||
 |
This rocketry article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 |
This spacecraft- or satellite-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
