Indian television network NDTV posted a transcript of a recent interview with Richard Branson. (The transcript is very rough; perhaps it has gone through multiple translations, such as from English to Hindi back to English, given the odd language found in it.) In the interview, Branson appears to indicate that SpaceShipTwo will be rolled out at the end of the year, followed by ninth months of test flights before beginning customer flights. He also says, puzzlingly, “In July of this year, we will fly them over ship for the first time”—a reference to the first flights of White Knight Two?
As for those occasional reports that William Shatner was offered (or had accepted) a flight on SS2, Branson said, “He definitely made it clear that he was quite frightened to go into the space and I got a feeling that he will never actually go into the space.” Regarding the risks of human spaceflight, he added, “anybody going into the space will have to accept that there are more inherited risks in the space travel than the airline travel. But we hope that within three years or so, it will be no great a risk.”
I suspect that “them over ship” = “the/m o
v[th]er ship” = “the mother ship”. So yes, you’re right.it seems very ambitious to plan for these test flights
until the Rocket Motors have completed qualification firings.
Not really…the mother ship tests are jet powered and will be done first. As with SS1 (and historically most rocket-powered craft) there will be several glide flights to test stability and handling, approach and landing. These test would carry ballast to simulate the weight of the rocket motor.