Virgin Galactic Spaceship Makes Successful Re-entry

Virgin Galactic's VSS Enterprise spaceship successfully completed a test of the "feathered" configuration of its re-entry system on May 4, 2011.

VSS Enterprise is a SpaceShipTwo class spaceship built by Virgin Galactic, the space tourism company founded by Richard Branson.

The test took place at Mojave Air and Spaceport in California.

When VSS Enterprise was 51,500 feet high, it was released from VMS Eve, its WhiteKnightTwo carrier craft.

After it entered a stable glide mode, VSS Enterprise deployed its "feathered" re-entry configuration, in which the tail was rotated upwards so that it was at a 60 degree angle from the fuselage.

This "feathering" created drag that helped the ship to descend downwards vertically at a rate of about 15,500feet per minute, while generating as little heat as possible.

VSS Enterprise returned to glide mode once it had dropped to a height of about 33,500 feet.

It then touched down successfully on the runway.

The entire process took a little over 11 minutes.

This is the third test flight of the VSS Enterprise that has taken place in under two weeks.

VSS Enterprise has made seven solo flights since December 2009.