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Branson's SpaceShipTwo rocketplane gets off ground

Remains firmly mated with mother, though

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Beardy biz kingpin Richard Branson was overjoyed yesterday to announce that his passenger-carrying suborbital "SpaceShipTwo" rocket thrillride craft has left the ground for the first time. However it remained attached to its jet-powered "mothership" for the entire flight: independent operations aren't expected for some time.

The SpaceShipTwo craft takes to the air carried by its WhiteKnightTwo mothership. Credit: Virgin Galactic

Going nowhere without my mummy for now.

“Seeing the finished spaceship in December was a major day for us but watching VSS Enterprise fly for the first time really brings home what beautiful, ground-breaking vehicles Burt and his team have developed for us," enthused Branson.

"It comes as no surprise that the flight went so well; the Scaled team is uniquely qualified to bring this important and incredible dream to reality. Today was another major step along that road and a testament to US engineering and innovation," added the Brit biz-lord.

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Erm....

>Being above the atmosphere seems a bit of a misnomer I mean you can do that in a conventional airliner...<

Really? Wouldn't you need the atmosphere for the engines of any airliner I'm aware of to work....?

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People often poke fun at the "bearded one", but hats off to him for this.

Yes, yes - I know he hasn't developed this himself and all the actual work has been carried out by Scaled Composites, but without the entreprenerial skill of Branson how far along would private space travel have come?

Private industry seems able to achieve more than NASA is capable of and at a fraction of the cost.

Perhaps NASA should stand for Need Another Space Agency?

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That's what Obama says, too

That's what the President is pushing. NASA needs to go back to R&D and the commercial companies should be exploiting the results and providing the actual launch services.

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