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Virgin spacecraft makes maiden voyage
Inching ever closer to taking customers on commercial spaceflights, Virgin Galactic's VSS Enterprise took off on its first "captive carry" test flight at 7:05 a.m. Monday from the Mojave Air and Spaceport in Mojave, Calif.
The spacecraft, which was unveiled on December 7, 2009, took the journey while remaining attached to its mothership, a carrier aircraft called VMS Eve.
When commercial flights begin, the vehicle will cruise to an altitude of 50,000 feet, where the VSS Enterprise, powered by a hybrid rocket motor, will detach from the mothership and launch passengers into suborbital space.
Inching ever closer to taking customers on commercial spaceflights, Virgin Galactic's VSS Enterprise took off on its first "captive carry" test flight at 7:05 a.m. Monday from the Mojave Air and Spaceport in Mojave, Calif.
The spacecraft, which was unveiled on December 7, 2009, took the journey while remaining attached to its mothership, a carrier aircraft called VMS Eve.
When commercial flights begin, the vehicle will cruise to an altitude of 50,000 feet, where the VSS Enterprise, powered by a hybrid rocket motor, will detach from the mothership and launch passengers into suborbital space.

