VMS Eve

Short description: Virgin Galactic mother ship

Template:Italic title prefixed

VMS Eve

VMS Eve's maiden flight

General information
National origin| United States
Manufacturer| Scaled Composites
Designer|

Robert Morgan, James Tighe[1][2]

Management and usage| Virgin Galactic

Number built| 1
Registration| N348MS
History
First flight| 21 December 2008
Developed from| White Knight One

Virgin MotherShip (VMS) Eve[3] (Tail number: N348MS[4]) is a carrier mothership for Virgin Galactic and launch platform for SpaceShipTwo-class Virgin SpaceShips.

WhiteKnightTwo at its rollout and christening ceremony, July 28, 2008

VMS Eve was built by Scaled Composites for Virgin Galactic.

## Contents

* 1 Public launch
* 2 Flight test program
* 3 References
* 4 External links
* 5 See also

## Public launch

VMS Eve's nose art

The aircraft was named after Evette Branson, the mother of Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin Group. The jet plane has nose art of a blonde woman holding a banner with the Virgin Galactic logo.[5] The image is based on how Evette Branson looked when she was younger and is called Galactic Girl.[6] The aircraft was officially launched on July 28, 2008, in Mojave, California, the United States, at the Mojave Spaceport, home of Scaled Composites. On December 12, 2008, the aircraft performed first taxi tests,[7] and a week later the maiden flight.[8] Eve was used in the Virgin Galactic testflight program before entry into commercial usage.[9]

Burt Rutan has dismissed fears that pressurization cycles might induce fatigue failure in the composite structure.[10] Richard Branson has also announced that it will be highly fuel efficient.[11]

## Flight test program

The initial flight occurred on 21 December 2008, after an initial low speed taxi test was carried out at Mojave[12] followed by a high speed taxi on 16 December.[13] By September 2009 the flight envelope was extended to 50000 feet.[14] As of 19 September 2014 the total flight time for WhiteKnightTwo was 333.96 hours.

As of September 22, 2025, there have been 3 test flights after 2014. One in October 2021, where it flew from Spaceport America to Mojave for extensive testing,[15] and two in February 2023, the first being on February 15th, when it conducted a flight from the Mojave Air and Space Port, which lasted over 2 and 1/2 hours, and reached an altitude of 41,500 ft (12,650 meters).[16]

## References

Citations

1. ↑ Morgan, Robert & James Tighe, "U.S. Design Patent 612,719 for the ornamental design for an aircraft", US patent D612791, issued 2010-03-30
2. ↑ "WK2 Rollout Audio Clips (parts 4 & 6)". Movaje Skies. 2008-07-30. https://mojaveskies.blogspot.com/2008/07/wk2-rollout-audio-clips.html.
3. ↑ CNet News, Virgin Galactic's faces of Eve, July 28, 2008 1:08 PM PDT, Candace Lombardi
4. ↑ "FAA N Number Registration for "Eve"". http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=348MS.
5. ↑ Sher, Lauren (July 28, 2008). "Virgin Galactic Announces New Space Aircraft". http://www.abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=5467790&page=1.
6. ↑ Chicago Tribune, Branson reveals mother ship, July 29, 2008
7. ↑ AVweb, WhiteKnight2 Completes Taxi Test , December 16, 2008
8. ↑ The Space Fellowship, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Mothership Makes Maiden Flight, December 21, 2008
9. ↑ The Register, Branson unveils Virgin Galactic mothership, Tuesday 29th July 2008 10:32 UTC, Scott Snowden
10. ↑ Rob Coppinger (29 July 2008)"Rutan: Fatigue 'is not an issue' for WhiteKnightTwo", Flightglobal
11. ↑ National Geographic, Virgin Galactic Unveils WhiteKnightTwo Space Plane, July 28, 2008, Ker Than
12. ↑ Coppinger, Rob (13 Dec 2008). "World Exclusive Video: SpaceShipTwo mothership runway trial". London. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/12/13/320125/world-exclusive-video-spaceshiptwo-mothership-runway.html. "Source: Flight International"
13. ↑ Coppinger, Rob (17 Dec 2008). "Exclusive Video: WhiteKnightTwo makes high speed taxi, deploys spoilers". London. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/12/17/320251/exclusive-video-whiteknighttwo-makes-high-speed-taxi-deploys.html. "Source: Flight International"
14. ↑ Coppinger, Rob (30 April 2009), Scaled plans 50,000ft WhiteKnight Two flight by September, London: Flightglobal, http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/04/30/325832/scaled-plans-50000ft-whiteknight-two-flight-by-september.html, "Source: Flight International"
15. ↑ "Virgin Galactic's carrier plane flies back to New Mexico spaceport" (in en). 2023-02-28. https://www.space.com/virgin-galactic-vms-eve-returns-spaceport-america.
16. ↑ "Virgin Galactic carrier plane flies for 1st time since 2021" (in en). 2023-02-16. https://www.space.com/virgin-galactic-vms-eve-first-flight-since-2021.

Bibliography

* BBC News, Branson unveils space tourism jet, 20:42 UTC, Monday, 28 July 2008 UK
* Los Angeles Times, Richard Branson unveils his space plane, July 29, 2008, Peter Pae
* Wired, Virgin Galactic Unveils White Knight Two Launch Vehicle, 07.29.08, Dave Bullock
* New York Times, New Steps in Private Space Travel, July 29, 2008, John Schwartz
* Reuters, Branson unveils plane to launch spaceship, Mon Jul 28, 2008 Fred Prouser
* Associated Press, Alicia Chang (July 25, 2008). "New space race heats up with unveiling of aircraft"]. Associated Press. https://kval.com/news/local/new-space-race-heats-up-with-unveiling-of-aircraft-11-19-2015-091106971.
* Scientific American, Forget the Dark Knight--the White Knight Two mothership has arrived, Jul 28, 2008 Adam Hadhazy
* New Scientist, Virgin Galactic rolls out SpaceShipTwo's 'mothership', 28 July 2008, Rachel Courtland
* Telegraph, Sir Richard Branson unveils Virgin's spaceship, 29 Jul 2008, James Quinn

## External links

* Virgin Galactic - news
* Scaled Composites, Virgin Galactic Rolls Out Mothership Eve \- Jul 28, 2008 Press Release
* Scaled Composites, WHITEKNIGHTTWO FLIGHT TEST SUMMARIES

## See also

* Blue Origin LPV Jacklyn, Blue Origin vehicle named after the founder's mother

* v
* t
* e

Virgin Galactic

Virgin Group

Staff|

* Richard Branson (Chairman)
* George T. Whitesides (CEO)
* Jon Campagna (CFO)
* Mike Moses (President)
* Julia Hunter (VP)
* David Mackay (chief pilot)
* Mark P. Stucky (test pilot)
* Frederick W. Sturckow (test pilot)
* Beth Moses (trainer)

Vehicle classes|

* Tier 1b
* SpaceShipTwo
* RocketMotorTwo
* White Knight Two
* LauncherOne
* NewtonOne
* NewtonTwo
* NewtonThree
* NewtonFour
* Boeing 747
* Tier 2
* SpaceShipThree

Vehicles|

* SS2
* VSS Enterprise†
* VSS Unity
* WK2
* VMS Eve
* VMS Spirit of Steve Fossett
* B747
* Cosmic Girl

Spaceports|

* Spaceport America
* Spaceport Sweden

Disasters|

* 2007 explosion
* 2014 VSS Enterprise crash

Spaceflight|

* VSS Unity VP-03
* VF-01

Related companies|

* Virgin Group
* Galactic Ventures
* The Spaceship Company
* Virgin Orbit
* Vox Space
* Scaled Composites (Northrop Grumman)
* Mojave Aerospace Ventures (Vulcan Aerospace)

Related topics|

* Sub-orbital spaceflight
* Kármán line
* Space tourism
* Commercial astronaut
* Composite aircraft
* Air launch
* Parasite aircraft
* Air launch to orbit
* Orbital launch vehicle
* Smallsats
* Mothership aircraft

* v
* t
* e

Rutan Aircraft Factory and Scaled Composites aircraft and spacecraft

Aircraft (main designs)|

* VariViggen
* VariEze
* Quickie
* Long-EZ
* Voyager
* Pond Racer
* Boomerang
* Proteus
* Model 367 BiPod
* Model 401

Aircraft (as subcontractor)|

* Adam A500
* Bell Eagle Eye
* General Motors Ultralite
* Toyota TAA-1
* Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer
* Williams V-Jet II
* X-47A Pegasus

Technology demonstrators|

* ARES
* ATTT
* BiPod
* Catbird
* Grizzly
* Triumph
* Model 395 (uncrewed)
* Model 396 (uncrewed)
* Vantage

Rocketcraft (as subcontractor)|

* McDonnell Douglas DC-X
* Rotary Rocket

Spaceflight program|

| Programs / Ships|

* SpaceShipOne
* White Knight One
* SpaceShipTwo
* VSS Enterprise†
* VSS Unity
* White Knight Two
* VMS Eve
* VMS Spirit of Steve Fossett
* RocketMotorTwo
* SpaceShipThree (cancelled)
* Stratolaunch Roc

|

Ansari X Prize flights|

* Tier One
* 11P
* 13P
* 14P
* 15P
* 16P
* 17P

* The Spaceship Company
* Mojave Aerospace Ventures

Notable people|

* Burt Rutan (founder)
* Doug Shane (former president)
* Michael Alsbury† (test pilot)
* Mike Melvill (vice president/general manager, test pilot)
* Brian Binnie (manager, test pilot)
* Peter Siebold (director of flight operations, test pilot)
* Paul Allen (SpaceShipOne sole investor)

* v
* t
* e

The Spaceship Company

Virgin Galactic

Related companies|

* Virgin Galactic (Virgin Group)
* Scaled Composites (Northrop Grumman)
* Mojave Aerospace Ventures (Vulcan Aerospace)

Notable people|

* Richard Branson (co-founder)
* Burt Rutan (co-founder)
* Doug Shane (former president)
* Peter Siebold (test pilot)
* Michael Alsbury† (test pilot)
* Brian Binnie (test pilot)
* Mike Melvill (test pilot)

Background|

* Ansari X Prize
* Scaled Composites Tier One
* SpaceShipOne
* White Knight One

Programs / Ships|

* SpaceShipTwo
* VSS Enterprise†
* 2014 crash
* VSS Unity
* White Knight Two
* VMS Eve
* VMS Spirit of Steve Fossett
* RocketMotorTwo
* SpaceShipThree (cancelled)

Related topics|

* Mojave Spaceport
* Kármán line
* Space tourism
* Companies
* Sub-orbital spaceflight
* Spaceplane

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