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Good images of the first free-flight glide test of SpaceShipTwo (SS2) on Oct 10 can be seen on this newly released video. The 60-ft long SS2 made a smooth landing at Mojave, Calif, around 13 minutes after release from the WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) mothership at an altitude of 46,000-ft. The vehicle, which will seat up to six plus two crew for sub-orbital flights, was commanded by Scaled test pilot Pete Siebold and co-pilot Mike Alsbury. In the video, note how a ventral, belly-mounted speedbrake deploys to help slow SS2 on the landing roll out. Scaled confirms this is a new design feature and was tested during the descent which included speeds up to 322 KTAS and turns up to 2g. Virgin Galactic/YouTube
Tags: os99, ScaledComposites, VirginGalactic, SpaceShipTwo, WhiteKnightTwo