Virgin Galactic breaks the sound barrier

Virgin Galactic, the world's first commercial spaceline owned by Abu Dhabi's Aabar Investments and the Virgin Group, completed the first rocket-powered flight of its space vehicle, SpaceShipTwo (SS2).

The test officially marks Virgin Galactic's entrance into the final phase of vehicle testing prior to commercial service from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

The SS2 took off from Mojave Air and Space Port mated to WhiteKnightTwo (WK2), Virgin Galactic's carrier aircraft in the presence of representatives from Aabar Investments from Abu Dhabi and Virgin Group. Upon reaching 47,000 feet altitude and approximately 45 minutes into the flight, SS2 was released from WK2. The pilots triggered ignition of the rocket motor propelling SS2 forward and upward to a maximum altitude of 55,000 feet. The entire engine burn lasted 16 seconds, as planned. During this time, SS2 went supersonic, achieving Mach 1.2.

"We partnered with Virgin Galactic several years ago with the aspiration to transform and commercialise access to space for the broader public," said Khadem Al Qubaisi, Chairman of Aabar Investments.

"Today's test is another key milestone in realizing that aspiration.

"Our partnership goes from strength to strength, and is an excellent example of aabar's desire to participate in the development of world class technologies that are commercially viable and strategically important, both for Aabar, its majority shareholder Ipic, and for Abu Dhabi."

The entire rocket-powered flight test lasted just over 10 minutes, culminating in a smooth landing for SS2 in Mojave at approximately 8am local time.

In the coming months, the spaceship's powered flight envelope will be expanded culminating in full space flight, anticipated to take place before the end of 2013.

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, Aabar Investments invests in various sectors including infrastructure, aviation, real estate, automotive, commodities, energy and financial services. IPIC acquired a stake in aabar in 2008 and has since progressively increased its stake to the current level in excess of 95 per cent. Since Ipic's initial investment, Aabar has made numerous investments including stakes in Daimler AG, Falcon Private Bank, Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited, UniCredit, Galactic Ventures, XOJET, Glencore International and a portfolio of real estate projects.

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