Stunning Footage from SpaceShipTwo's Third Rocket-Powered Flight

By Nancy Atkinson - January 14, 2014 at 5:15 PM UTC | Space Exploration

Virgin Galactic released video from SpaceShipTwo's flight test last Friday, January 10, 2014. This was the third supersonic, rocket-powered test of the Virgin Galactic system after dozens of successful subsonic test flights. The pilots Dave Mackay and Mark Stucky tested the spaceship's Reaction Control System, the newly installed thermal protection coating on the vehicle's tail booms, and the "feather" re-entry system, all with great success.

See some images from the flight below.

You can read our coverage from Friday's test flight

here.

[caption id="attachment_108113" align="aligncenter" width="580"]

Image from SpaceShipTwo's third powered flight on January 10, 2014. Credit: Virgin Galactic.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_107980" align="aligncenter" width="580"]

Feathered Flight during Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo's third powered flight on January 10, 2014 over the Mojave desert. This image was taken by MARS Scientific as part of the Mobile Aerospace Reconnaissance System optical tracking system. [/caption]