Inside the cockpit of WhiteKnightOne.

This illustration clearly shows how much larger SS2 is.

These two illustrations clearly show how much larger the WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo combination is.

Several other missions are already being mooted for the carrier aircraft. These range from launching payloads other than SpaceShipTwo or as a high-altitude test vehicle, to being used as a water bomber, with a huge water tank suspended from the hard points that carry the spaceship.

Note how similar the dual fuselages of the VMS Eve are to that of the VSS Enterprise. In fact, one of them is configured to be identical to the interior of the spaceship, for training purposes.

Virgin Galactic’s carrier vehicle the VMS Eve (named after Sir Richard Branson's mother) will launch the VSS Enterprise at 50,000ft (15,240m).

Here the spaceship is at the low-key point, and is abeam the touchdown zone. None of the turns are square, a constant arc is flown all the way to final approach. The principle Is exactly the same as the 'constant aspect' technique that the RAF uses for practise force landings.

With a wingspan of 43m (141 ft) the VMS Eve actually has a wingspan greater than a Boeing 757, and is the largest all-composite aircraft ever made

SpaceShipTwo is not only much larger but it is also much more sophisticated - and comfortable - than its illustrious predecessor. After all, this is a machine that has been designed to carry fare-paying passengers.

Although SpaceShipTwo is considerably larger than SpaceShipOne, it shares many similar features, including its propulsion system and feathering device.

A mechanic services one of VMS Eve’s four Pratt & Whitney PW308 turbofans.

22 марта 2010г.: Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo (VSS Enterprise) выполнил первый безмоторный полет в аэрокосмопорту Мохава, Калифорния. Суборбитальный космический корабль транспортировался самолетом-маткой White Knight Two.
The VMS Eve is powered by four Pratt & Whitney PW308 turbofans, which have a combined thrust of 124kN (27,876lb). VSS Enterprise is powered by a single hybrid rocket motor, fuelled by a type of synthetic rubber called HTPB (hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene), with a Nitrous Oxide (N2O) oxidiser.

Sir Richard poses with the VMS Eve. His company, Virgin Galactic, is the world's first spaceline.

Sir Richard Branson and Burt Rutan salute the crowd form the cockpit of the VMS Eve.

Although all the flight testing has taken place at Scaled's base at Mojave Air and Spaceport, when Virgin Galactic starts commercial flights, operations will shift to Spaceport America in New Mexico.

WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo roar into the Mojave dawn at the start of another test flight.

SpaceShipTwo re-enters the earth's atmosphere in the feather configuration.

SpaceShipTwo returns to Mojave after another successful test flight.

At the vehicle's apogee, the pilots actuate a pneumatic ram that pivots the wings and tail booms up through 90°, placing the spaceship into the ’feather' configuration. As the spacecraft falls back into the atmosphere it is now in such an incredibly high drag configuration that it never accelerates to the point at which the thermal loads can threaten the structural integrity of the vehicle.