It's a frighteningly fast plunge that is sure to leave all but the hardiest of flyers clutching their stomachs.But if plummeting to Earth at a near-vertical angle sounds like your cup of tea, then this official video of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo 'maiden feathered flight' will whet the appetite for space travel.
Taped earlier this month, and released this week, the footage shows the rocket bend its wings into a near-right angle landing position after descending from 52,000ft.
Falling at 15.500ft per minute in this near-vertical state, SpaceShipTwo is slowed by the drag of the folded tail, similar to the way feathers slow a badminton shuttlecock.
Virgin Galactic's rocket plane deployed its twin tail sections in a position created to allow it a soft return to Earth's atmosphere from the vacuum of space.
During the test, SpaceShipTwo did not fire its rocket engine for a climb into space. Instead, a mothership lifted it to 52,000ft, where it was released.
It then rotated its twin tail booms upward 65 degrees during the test flight in the Mojave Desert in California.
The reconfiguration is a critical part of the spaceship's descent through Earth's atmosphere after suborbital trips into space. Read More
