History

The Scaled Composites White Knight and SpaceShipOne were designed and constructed to compete for a prize for the first commercial space flights. This combination won that prize in October 2004.

The White Knight and SpaceShip One combination were the first stage in Richard Branson’s plans to offer commercial flights to the verge of space called Virgin Galactic.

The White Knight first flew on 1 August 2002 and the SpaceShipOne on 20 May 2003.

SpaceShipOne was retired in August 2004 after 17 flights with the final three reaching altitudes of more than 100 km.

Following those flights the White Knight was used as a research testbed for other projects including the Boeing X-37 spaceplane,

This model represents the sole White Kinght and SpaceShipOne c. October 2004.

Data: White Knight. Engine two General Electric J85-GE-5 afterburning turbojets of 1750ke each. Wing span 24.99m. Service Ceiling 16,000m. Flight crew two. SpaceShipOne Motor one SpaceDev Hybrid rocked motor of 74kN. Wingspan 8.05m, Length 8.05m. Loaded weight 3600kg. Maximum speed 3518km/h. Maximum altitude 112,000m. Crew 1 with 2 passengers.
AModel 1/72 kit competed by Leigh Edmonds in September 2010.

Data

MODEL: Scaled Composites White Knight & Space Ship Two

ROLE: experimental space plane

TIME PERIOD: 2002-2004

ENGINES: one SpaceDev Hybrid rocked motor of 74kN

WING SPAN: 8.05m

LENGTH: 8.05m

GROSS WEIGHT: 3600kg

MAXIMUM SPEED: 3518km/

PAYLOAD: 2 passengers

CREW: 1

SCALE: 1/72

KIT:

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