Gallery: No Automation, One Shot at Landing: It's Really Hard to Fly SpaceShipTwo

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    Virgin Galactic test pilots Mike Masucci (left) and Dave Mackay with WhiteKnightTwo.
  • Pilots spend a few hours each week in the simulator.
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    Pilots spend a few hours each week in the simulator.
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    The belly of WhiteKnightTwo, where SpaceShipTwo attaches.
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    hiteKnightTwo is a double-hulled plane that resembles a catamaran, optimized for high altitudes and load-bearing capacity.
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    John Francis Peters/WIRED
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    Virgin Galactic is already working on the next spaceship.
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    Construction is going on in Mojave, California.
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    The design philosophy behind the two aircraft was to keep everything as basic as possible.
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    SpaceShipTwo is a “small, agile, really high-performance vehicle,” says Dave Mackay.
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