WASHINGTON — Virgin Galactic is planning to perform the next test flight of it SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane on Thursday, December 13.
The company said that the next powered test flight will take place at the Mojave Air and Space Port and would be the fourth powered flight for this vehicle and the first since July.
“At a basic level, this flight will aim to fly higher and faster,” the company said in its statement. “We plan to burn the rocket motor for longer than we ever have in flight before, but not to its full duration.”
The flight will collect "mew and important data points" about the vehicle at higher altitudes and speeds, including supersonic handling qualities and thermal dynamics. How well the vehicle is doing will determine how long they burn the rocket motor, according to Space News.
