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Parts of this article (those related to July 11, 2021 news) need to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (July 2021)
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| VMS Eve | |
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| VMS Eve's maiden flight | |
| Role | Spaceship carrier / launcher
Type of aircraft
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| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | Scaled Composites |
| Designer | Robert Morgan, James Tighe[1][2] |
| First flight | 21 December 2008 |
| Primary user | Virgin Galactic |
| Number built | 1 |
| Developed from | White Knight One |
| Type | WhiteKnightTwo |
| Construction number | 001 |
| Registration | N348MS |
Virgin MotherShip (VMS) Eve[3] (Tail number: N348MS[4]) is a carrier mothership for Virgin Galactic and launch platform for SpaceShipTwo-class Virgin SpaceShips.
VMS Eve was built by Scaled Composites for Virgin Galactic.
The aircraft was named after Evette Branson, the mother of Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin Group. The jet plane has nose art of a blonde woman holding a banner with the Virgin Galactic logo.[5] The image is based on how Evette Branson looked when she was younger and is called Galactic Girl.[6] The aircraft was officially launched on July 28, 2008, in Mojave, California, the United States, at the Mojave Spaceport, home of Scaled Composites. On December 12, 2008, the aircraft performed first taxi tests,[7] and a week later the maiden flight.[8] Eve was used in the Virgin Galactic testflight program before entry into commercial usage.[9]
Burt Rutan has dismissed fears that pressurization cycles might induce fatigue failure in the composite structure.[10] Richard Branson has also announced that it will be highly fuel efficient.[11]
The initial flight occurred on 21 December 2008, after an initial low speed taxi test was carried out at Mojave[12] followed by a high speed taxi on 16 December.[13] By September 2009 the flight envelope was extended to 50000 feet.[14] As of 19 September 2014 the total flight time for WhiteKnightTwo was 333.96 hours.
Source: Flight International
Source: Flight International
Source: Flight International
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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