Scaled Composites / the Spaceship Company Spaceshiptwo

Single Jet

SpaceShipTwo is the world's first commercial suborbital spaceplane designed to carry paying passengers to the edge of space. Developed by Scaled Composites and manufactured by Virgin Galactic's subsidiary The Spaceship Company, this rocket-powered vehicle represents a fundamentally different approach to spaceflight: air-launch from a carrier aircraft followed by a hybrid rocket burn to Mach 3 and apogee above 80 kilometers, then an unpowered feathered reentry and glide landing. Unlike orbital spacecraft or traditional aircraft, SS2 operates across three distinct flight regimes: captive carry beneath WhiteKnightTwo to 50,000 feet, powered ascent on a single hybrid rocket motor burning hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene and nitrous oxide, and finally a long gliding descent with its unique feathering reentry system that rotates the tail booms upward for aerodynamic stability during hypersonic deceleration. The vehicle's operating envelope is extraordinary by aviation standards but modest by spaceflight norms: peak velocity around Mach 3, apogee roughly 55 miles, and several minutes of weightlessness for the six passengers and two pilots aboard. VSS Unity, the second SpaceShipTwo vehicle, completed Virgin Galactic's first fully crewed spaceflight in July 2021 and has since flown multiple commercial missions. SkyMeter has tracked flights across airframes and operators, with the sole observed operator.