Virgin Galactic astronauts return from a ‘thrilling’ journey to the ‘Ignorosphere’
28 Jul 2018
For the first time pilots from Virgin Galactic, who shot into space on Thursday on the VSS Unity, travelled through the stratosphere and into the ‘mesosphere,’ which is referred to as the ‘Ignorosphere’ by scientists and returned safely to Earth.
The ‘Ignorosphere’ is an under-studied atmospheric layer as it is above the range of balloon flight.
Virgin Galactic test pilots broke the Mach 2 in the third rocket-powered supersonic outing in less than four months. The rocket was released from carrier aircraft VMS Eve at 46,500 ft and pilots Dave Mackay and Mike “Sooch” Masucci lit the spaceship’s rocket motor, before pulling up into a near vertical climb and powering towards the black sky at 2.47 times the speed of sound.
“It was a thrill from start to finish,” declared Mackay, after a safe landing at Mojave Air and Space Port. “Unity’s rocket motor performed magnificently again and Sooch pulled off a smooth landing. This was a new altitude record for both of us in the cockpit, not to mention our mannequin in the back, and the views of Earth from the black sky were magnificent.”
According to Scooch, the view from 170,000 ft was just totally amazing. “The flight was exciting and frankly beautiful,” he said after the return journey. “We were able to complete a large number of test points which will give us good insight as we progress to our goal of commercial service.”
Unity’s cabin was equipped to gather data vital to the future safety and experience of Virgin Galactic’s astronaut customers. The cabin analysis systems record a host of parameters that are designed to help it further understand the environment inside the cabin during powered flight – temperatures, pressures, humidity, acoustics, thermal response, vibration, acceleration and even radiation.