In 2005 , Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin Group announced the creation of Virgin Galactic and his plans for a 9-seat capacity SpaceShipTwo named VSS '' Enterprise '' . It has since been completed with eight seats ( one pilot , one co-pilot and six passengers ) and has taken part in captive-carry tests and with the first mother-ship WhiteKnightTwo , or VMS Eve . It has also completed solitary glides , with the movable tail sections in both fixed and " feathered " configurations . The hybrid rocket motor has been fired multiple times in ground-based test stands , and was fired in a powered flight for the second time on 5 September 2013 . Four additional SpaceShipTwos have been ordered and will operate from the new Spaceport America . Commercial flights carrying passengers were expected in 2014 , but became cancelled due to the disaster during SS2 PF04 flight . Branson stated , " w e are going to learn from what went wrong , discover how we can improve safety and performance and then move forwards together . " A major use of sub-orbital vehicles today is as scientific sounding rockets . Scientific sub-orbital flights began in the 1920s when Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid fueled rockets , however they did not reach space altitude . In the late 1940s , captured German V-2 ballistic missiles were converted into V-2 sounding rockets which helped lay the foundation for modern sounding rockets . Today there are dozens of different sounding rockets on the market , from a variety of suppliers in various countries . Typically , researchers wish to conduct experiments in microgravity or above the atmosphere
disaster during SS2 PF04 flight
VSS Enterprise crash
Sub-orbital spaceflight