Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo: Potential Ship to Space Makes Test Flight

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo has made its first test flight on Monday. The ship broke the sound barrier in a test that went over the Mojave Desert. The ship's testing makes it closer to reaching the goal of flying passengers to space.

Sir Richard Branson said to The Associated Press, "It couldn't have gone more smoothly." Branson owns the spaceline with Aabar Investments PJC, which is based in Abu Dhabi.

The SpaceShipTwo was carried in a twin-fuselage jet that went off at about 7:00 a.m. PDT. The ship "spent 45 minutes climbing to an altitude of 48,000 feet and released the spaceship. Pilot Mark Stucky and co-pilot Mike Alsbury then triggered SpaceShipTwo's rocket engine," reported The AP."The engine burned for 16 seconds, propelling the spaceship to an altitude of 55,000 feet and a velocity of Mach 1.2, surpassing the speed of sound. SpaceShipTwo then glided to a safe landing at Mojave Air and Space Port in the desert north of Los Angeles, said George Whitesides, Virgin Galactic's CEO."

The test was 10 minutes long. "Having spaceship and rocket perform together in the air is a long way toward getting into space," said Branso to the AP. "A few more test flights with slightly bigger burns every time, and then we'll all be back here to watch it go into space."

SpaceShipTwo is a prototype version of SpaceShipOne which was the first rocket to reach space that was privately developed and manned. There have been more than 500 people paying $200,000 deposits to be the first to go up to space.

Virgin has yet to fly tourists to space but Branson has said that his spaceship will be ready for take off by December 2013, according to CNN. "The initial flights will be sub-orbital, which will give people a taste of space," he said to CNN. "From there we'll go into orbital flights and maybe one day hotels in space."

Virgin Airlines fliers are now allowed to collect frequent flier miles through August 7, 2013 to win a space trip flight with Virgin Airlines' Mission: Galactic program.

The grand prize is a trip to space while second place winners will receive a zero-gravity fight courtesy of ZERO-G.

Whoever flies the most amount of miles on Virgin America, Virgin Australia and Virgin Atlantic will win the grand prize on Virgin Galactic.

All passengers enrolled in Virgin's Elevate frequent flier profile are welcome to earn points for their travels and win the unprecedented trip to space.