Following a tragic crash back in 2014, Virgin Galactic tries again with the “new SpaceShipTwo” and completes the first glide test for VSS Unity. The aircraft was up in the air for 10 minutes and didn’t travel faster than Mach 0.6 but it showed how the Unity behaves in an actual flight. There will be more tests in the future and it won’t be until sometime in 2017 when rocket-powered flights will be made (perhaps even later). This all depends on how quickly Virgin Galactic gets the information before actual spaceflight happens.
Today, VSS Unity flew free for the first time. Here's a glimpse into our successful test flight this morning #SpaceShipTwo pic.twitter.com/m05UGYy7nq
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) December 3, 2016
Source: Engadget