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A Look Back at SpaceShipOne’s Inspirational First Flight to Space
A Look Back at SpaceShipOne’s Inspirational First Flight to Space

Virgin Galactic’s plan to fly SpaceShipTwo’s first commercial suborbital flight next week falls near the anniversary of the first spaceflight by its predecessor, SpaceShipOne, on June 21, 2004. Here’s a look back at that day nearly two decades ago.

The temperature was still hovering around 90 degrees Fahrenheit in Mojave when the summer solstice arrived at 5:57 PM on June 20, 2004. The weather in the High Desert was a marked change from the chilly and overcast Los Angeles that we had left the day before. The LA Basin was in the middle of June Gloom, a weather phenomenon where a marine layer that normally stays offshore moves inland to block out the sun, sending temperatures plunging.

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  • Parabolic Arc
  • June 22, 2023
Virgin Galactic Schedules Final Flight Test for May 25
Virgin Galactic Schedules Final Flight Test for May 25

Virgin Galactic is set to conduct the first suborbital flight of its VSS Unity spacecraft in nearly two years on May 25. The flight test, to be held at Spaceport America in New Mexico will be the final one before the company begins carrying paying passengers late next month.

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  • Parabolic Arc
  • May 17, 2023