WATCH: Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Unity completes 2nd flight from Spaceport America (mission recap video)

[Brainspore]

@euansmith

The idea of spending billions of dollars to drop a unit of SEALs anywhere in the world, with no means of extraction, sounds bonkers

Didn’t you see “The Dark Knight?” They’ll just do the skyhook thing with the balloon!

Fulton surface-to-air recovery system

Of course, it will take some time for the B-17 to catch up with the space plane.

[glenblank]

The SS2 “mothership” carrier aircraft is the VMS Eve. It’s named for Richard Branson’s mother Eve:

Eve Branson

She served in Women’s Royal Navy Service (WRENS, or “Wrens”)) during WWII.

Women's Royal Naval Service

After the war, she was a ballet dancer with a touring company, and something of a pinup model.

She was also an air hostess for British South American Airways.

The nose art on both VMS Eve and Spaceship Two, dubbed ‘Galactic Girl’, is based on Eve Branson during her modeling days.

His mother loves it.

[Otherbrother]

@glenblank

The nose art on both VMS Eve and Spaceship Two , dubbed ‘Galactic Girl’, is based on Eve Branson during her modeling days.

Interesting if true, but odd that the company didn’t mention it in their blog about the history of the nose art on their aircraft.

[glenblank]

@Otherbrother

Interesting if true, but odd that the company didn’t mention it in their blog about the history of the nose art on their aircraft.

Yeah, that’s a bit odd. Can’t speak for the blog author, but, really, it’s a well-known factoid in the aerospace industry. This, f’rex, is from Dan Linehan’s Burt Rutan’s Race to Space: The Magician of Mojave and His Flying Innovations (2011):

I didn’t bother to source this first time around, because it is such a “well-known factoid” among industry commentators. And I’ve seen a video where Sir Richard explains the name and nose art, with a beaming Eve Branson standing next to him. Can’t find it ATM, but I’ll do a bit more YouTube digging and see if I can come up with it.

[NickyG]

Interesting, thanks for posting this. I looked at the art and it sure didn’t seem very bawdy to me.

[glenblank]

@NickyG

I looked at the art and it sure didn’t seem very bawdy to me.

Well, of course not. It’s his mom.

You wanna see “bawdy” in nose art, try Image-googling “WWII nose art virgin”. Now, there’s some “potentially problematic imagery”

This is a just charmingly retro bit of cheesecake, IMO. YMMV, of course.

Here are some images from designer Toby Tinsley’s portfolio:

…including this B/W still from the presentation that I recall seeing on video:

[Brainspore]

@NickyG

I looked at the art and it sure didn’t seem very bawdy to me.

I still think it would make a lot of dudes uncomfortable if they saw an illustration of a lithe, spandex-clad young man in a similar pose.

[LurksNoMore]

That’s their loss, and I’m saying this as a straight guy myself.