Suborbital civilian spacecraft gears to take you into the untamed space

Deriving inspiration from NASA's X-38 experimental plane, Dassault Aviation the French aerospace company is out there working on a new suborbital civilian spacecraft. This air-launched reusable hypersonic vehicle takes-off at a maximum speed of Mach 3.5 reaching an altitude of over 100km, meaning it touches the verge of space. The separation process of this 11-ton aircraft VHS derived from their VEHRA satellite launcher takes place some 25,000 feet above the ground. Despite the spacecraft-like nature that makes the six passenger experience weightlessness for good three minutes, the vehicle lands back swiftly like any other conventional aircraft.

orbshuttle1 thumb 550x413 38336
orbshuttle1 thumb 550x413 38336

Via: Gizmodo/Dvice

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