Scaled Composites WhiteKnightTwo Photo Gallery
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In July, Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites and Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic unveiled <em>WhiteKnightTwo</em>, the workhorse of their burgeoning suborbital-tourism business.

Scaled Composites WhiteKnightTwo Image 1

In July, Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites and Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic unveiled WhiteKnightTwo, the workhorse of their burgeoning suborbital-tourism business.
<em>WhiteKnightTwo</em> is designed to carry a smaller craft, <em>SpaceShipTwo</em>, up to 48,000 feet and release it so it can fire up its rockets and carry paying passengers to the edge of space and back.

Scaled Composites WhiteKnightTwo Image 2

WhiteKnightTwo is designed to carry a smaller craft, SpaceShipTwo, up to 48,000 feet and release it so it can fire up its rockets and carry paying passengers to the edge of space and back.
Space-tourism hype aside, <em>WhiteKnightTwo</em> is an engineering marvel—with the wingspan of a B-29 bomber, it's the largest all-carbon-fiber aircraft ever built.

Scaled Composites WhiteKnightTwo Image 3

Space-tourism hype aside, WhiteKnightTwo is an engineering marvel—with the wingspan of a B-29 bomber, it’s the largest all-carbon-fiber aircraft ever built.
A rendering of the full <em>WhiteKnightTwo-SpaceShipTwo</em> combo, which Virgin Galactic hopes will start carrying tourists to space in 2010.

Scaled Composites WhiteKnightTwo Image 4

A rendering of the full WhiteKnightTwo-SpaceShipTwo combo, which Virgin Galactic hopes will start carrying tourists to space in 2010.