VMS Eve

This article is about Virgin Mothership. For computer text editor, see EVE (text editor).

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
VMS Eve's maiden flight
General information
Type	WhiteKnightTwo
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Scaled Composites
Designer	Robert Morgan, James Tighe[1][2]
Primary user	Virgin Galactic
Number built	1
Construction number	001
Registration	N348MS
History
First flight	21 December 2008
Developed from	White Knight One

VMS Eve was built by Scaled Composites for Virgin Galactic.

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.