Introducing SpaceShipTwo : Big Pic Gallery

A Suborbital Double Act: Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo will be unveiled in the Mojave Desert, Calif. on Monday Dec. 7 ahead of its first test flight in 2010. The carbon composite Virgin Mother Ship WhiteKnightTwo had its unveiling in July 2008 and has since undergone extensive flight testing. SpaceShipTwo wasn't designed to launch from the ground, instead it will be carried high in the atmosphere by WhiteKnightTwo.

The first WhiteKnightTwo was named "Eve" after Virgin founder Richard Branson's mother. Eve will be used to carry the first suborbital spacecraft of the SpaceShipTwo fleet to an altitude of 50,000 ft (9.5 miles). This is nearly double the altitude of most commercial airliners.

Both craft are designed and built by Virgin Galactic's partner Scaled Composites.

Image: Artist's impression of WhiteKnightTwo carrying SpaceShipTwo above the clouds before the spaceship undocks to continue its journey into suborbital space under the power of its own rocket engine (Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites).

Undock and Launch: At 50,000 ft, SpaceShipTwo will be released from the mother ship and the space ship's rocket will ignite, treating the six fee-paying tourists to an exhilarating rollercoaster ride straight up to the Earth's thermosphere. The single rocket engine is designed to accelerate the craft to a top speed of 2,600 mph.

Image: Artist's impression of SpaceShipTwo dropping from the mother ship just before igniting its rocket (Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites).

Awesome Apogee: After climbing beyond an altitude of 62.1 miles, SpaceShipTwo will have crossed the Kármán line, the official boundary between the upper atmosphere and space. Above this point, the passengers aboard SpaceShipTwo will become space tourists.

SpaceShipTwo will continue to power to a maximum altitude of 65 miles -- also known as "apogee" -- where the space tourists will experience several minutes of weightlessness.

Image: SpaceShipTwo at apogee. At this altitude, the wings are folded into a feathered position in preparation for re-entry. This method allows for stability as SpaceShipTwo descends through the atmosphere. Although the concept of feathering was conceived in the 1950's, it was Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan who (in 2004) demonstrated its feasibility in the Ansari X PRIZE winning SpaceShipOne suborbital spacecraft (Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites).

The Descent: Having reached maximum altitude and enjoyed floating around the cabin, the space tourists will buckle themselves back up in preparation for the return to Earth.

Still in the "feathering" position, SpaceShipTwo's wings will provide optimized air resistance, making the spacecraft fall through the atmosphere like a shuttlecock. As SpaceShipTwo falls to an altitude of approximately 13 miles, the wings will fold back out into "glider mode" so the pilot can glide to the landing strip.

Image: The rear of SpaceShipTwo with wings in the feathered position (Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites).

Up and Down: Over the course of 2.5 hours, SpaceShipTwo's space tourists will have been treated to a round-trip into space and back.

Image credit: Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites

A Comparison: Although SpaceShipTwo will be unveiled on Dec. 7, its predecessor had already explored suborbital space to claim the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE on Oct. 4, 2004. Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne caught the eye of Virgin's Richard Branson and now the planned fleet of five SpaceShipTwo's will be manufactured by Burt Rutan's company for Virgin Galactic.

Image: SpaceShipTwo measures 60 ft long, over double the length of SpaceShipOne's 28 ft length (Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites).

Rocket Testing: In May, the first phase of SpaceShipTwo rocket engine testing was completed in the Southern Californian desert by Scaled Composites and Sierra Nevada Corporation. According to Virgin Galactic, as the spaceship will be launched high in the atmosphere, far less fuel is required to blast tourists into space when compared with more conventional systems.

"This means much less fuel is required, and the fuel burn is more environmentally benign than the solid rockets used in most ground based systems," the company said in a press release.

Image credit: Virgin Galactic.

Under Construction: The most recent images of SpaceShipTwo included this photograph of the fuselage plus nose cone before it was spray-painted and wings were attached in the Scaled Composites warehouse.

Image credit: Scaled Composites.

A Spaceship With A View: During construction, the spacious interior of SpaceShipTwo was already apparent. Several porthole-like windows measuring up to 17 inches in diameter will provide a broad view of the suborbital journey. The cabin measures an ample 7.5 ft diameter by 12 ft length, more than enough room for the occupants to float around and enjoy the view when the craft reaches maximum altitude.

Image credit: Scaled Composites.