Virgin Galactic spacecraft successfully completes first supersonic rocket fuelled flight after two years of testing

Eleanor Rose6 April 2018

Virgin Galactic has launched its first powered flight in four years, blasting the VSS Unity past the speed of sound before touching down safely again.

Incredible footage from the test flight shows the spacecraft separating from its launch vehicle and accelerating under rocket power to supersonic speed.

A huge plume of flames shot from the base of the spacecraft as it roared upwards with two crew, Mark Stucky and Dave Mackay, at the helm.

During the 30-second rocket blast, the Unity hit Mach 1.87 before cruising and then returning for a successful landing.

"On rocket shutdown, Unity continued an upwards coast to an apogee of 84,271 feet before readying for the downhill return," Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said in a statement.

"Space feels tantalizingly close now," Virgin boss Richard Branson wrote on Twitter.

The milestone marks the start of the final part of Virgin Galactic's flight test program

The spacecraft was launched from California's Mojave Air and Space Port using the carry vehicle Eve.

It was the fifth powered test of Richard Branson's space firm's SpaceShipTwo design and the first since the 2014 crash of the Spaceship Enterprise that killed one of its pilots.

Co-pilot Mike Alsbury, 39, died in the disaster over the Mojave Desert, about 100 miles north-east of Los Angeles.

The Unity spacecraft would take tourists on suborbital trips into the lower reaches of space

Virgin Galactic's SS2 is a reusable spaceplane designed to carry two pilots and up to six passengers into suborbital space.

The spaceship hit Mach 1.87 during the 30-second rocket burn (MarsScientific.com and Trumbull Studios)

The milestone marks the beginning of the final phase of test flights by Mr Branson's space company, which aims to take tourists on paid trips into the lower reaches of space.

In October Virgin Group's three US-based space companies Virgin Galactic, The Spaceship Company and Virgin Orbit received a $1 billion cash injection from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman paid a visit to Virgin Galactic’s California base on April 2.

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