[Update 2: SpaceShipTwo has successfully completed its first glide test, landing at Mojave Air and Space Port shortly after 8 am PDT (11 am EDT) Sunday morning, a little more than 10 minutes after being released by WhiteKnightTwo.]
[Update: the first glide test is indeed taking place Sunday morning; follow along at the Popular Mechanics liveblog, reporting from Mojave.]
The long wait for the first free flight by SpaceShipTwo may nearly be over. Popular Mechanics reported Saturday that, according to its sources, Scaled will perform the first glide test as soon as Sunday morning, taking the aircraft up to an altitude of 15,000 meters (50,000 feet) and then release it. SpaceShipTwo most recently flew a captive carry flight with the WhiteKnightTwo aircraft on September 30th; according to the published test log the flight was a “rehearsal mission” for upcoming glide tests.
Examining crewing of past flights of WK2 and the two manned attached SS2 flights the likely crew for the glide tests are Pete Siebold (pilot) and Michael Alsbury (co-pilot). They have conducted both the manned attached SS2 tests and flown several missions together to harmonise crew proficiency on WK2 prior to the SS2 tests. It will be interesting to see how quickly they progress to live engine tests especaially if commercial passengers are to fly in mid 2011.