Above is the left hand seat of WhiteKnight Two's starboard cabin command module with the helmets of its pilot Peter Siebold and co-pilot Clint Nichols. Watch a video of the interior below
In the extended section of this blog post are more exclusive pictures of the cockpit, the rest of the interior of WK2's righthand fuselage and of Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson preparing for his participation in the demo flight - that took place on the afternoon of Tuesday 28 July here at the EAA Airventure air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin
all the images in the blogpost are copyright Flightglobal/Reed Business Information
click on all of the images in this blog post to see larger versions in the same browser window, feel free to download for personal use
Above: the right hand seat of the WK2 cockpit
Above: WK2 pilot Peter Siebold, left, helps Sir Richard Branson, right, prepare for the flight
Above: the WK2 right hand fuselage interior's rear and to the right, the flight engineer's seat
Above: Sir Richard Branson is seated aboard WK2 in the flight engineers seat awaiting his flight demo
on July 29, 2009 3:20 AM | Reply
Wow, what a simple, beautiful front office! This should also be very close to the cockpit in SS2 as well!
on July 29, 2009 3:56 AM | Reply
Hopefully the switches will be protected to prevent accidental bumps in 0g from floating objects.
on July 29, 2009 10:48 AM | Reply
Anonymous:
This is the mother ship - it shouldn't ever reach zero G...
on July 29, 2009 5:22 PM | Reply
Re the two zero g comments:
Yes, while it is true that the WK2 will never reach space, and never reach sustained zero g, I believe it is explicitly the plan of Virgin Galactic to use the WK2 as a training vehicle for a short zero-g descent for the folks who will be going up in the SpaceShipTwo a day or two later.
on July 29, 2009 9:21 PM | Reply
I thought the mothership would fly parabolic flights. That's as "zero G" as the actual spaceship, just not for as long at a time.
on July 30, 2009 12:03 AM | Reply
Can anyone tell me what is that over the right hand side cockpit window?
on July 30, 2009 12:17 AM | Reply
In my opinion, Virgin's WhiteKnightTwo plane because of its planning might face technical problems. The plane with its additional plane like body along its main body create a lot of drag force, and a plane with this kind of planning is heavier naturally.
Aircraft electrical systems technician
dordor77@netvision.net.il
on July 30, 2009 2:54 AM | Reply
@ Duncan
I think that may be HUD, but I'm not sure.
This is such an odd design, I wonder if they have indicators for the other fuselage. In fact - what is in the other "cockpit"?
on July 30, 2009 8:57 AM | Reply
Even funnier how there is a handheld mirror above one of the pilot seats. Probably for when it hits zero g's or so Sir Richard Branson can make sure his hair is still flowing.
on July 30, 2009 12:19 PM | Reply
The interior looks a bit spartan to me. It may be high tech (?) but it doesn't show. Look at how cables are attached and how the ship is controlled: by a yoke, no stick.
on July 30, 2009 11:43 PM | Reply
That "mirror," like the other comment is a Heads up Display or a windshield deice.
on July 30, 2009 11:46 PM | Reply
Also, the important switched are more than likely "lever locked swtiches." Meaning, you can't bump them out of postion. They are spring loaded and you have to pull on them to move them.
on July 31, 2009 12:55 AM | Reply
The device over the right window is almost certainly a HUD (heads up display) of some kind. The hand mirror is for looking towards the rear of the aircraft while still strapped in the seat (either the inside or, through the side window, the outside, eg wings). Some aircraft and spacecraft have such mirrors built in.
on July 31, 2009 7:23 PM | Reply
On the right side is a deice system. The mirror no doubt is to see if anything is flying around in the rear of the plane during agressive maneuvers. As for the "sparten"ness, this is a prototype and not at all what the actual passenger interior will look like. If you have to access something on a prototype, you do not want to first remove unnecessary interior items. And by the way, the control column is a two handed stick, not a yoke. Notice the fighter style grip on one side of the bull horns.
on August 6, 2009 11:15 AM | Reply
I wonder if the flight engineer will be on board during future passenger missions or just for this WKII prototype.
on August 6, 2009 8:09 PM | Reply
What is the role of the second fuselage??
on August 10, 2009 4:17 PM | Reply
From what I understand, the second fuselage will be used (it's empty and windowless in this prototype)for both training of future "astronauts" and for potentially allowing others to come along and watch the actual space launches. I suppose though that it could be used for just about anything... Rutan and company have some pretty fertile imaginations!
on September 29, 2009 7:43 AM | Reply
The mirror could also be used for checking whether the WK2 is detached from the second fuselage and for checking the rear of the aircraft for icing, etc. This is a prototype and you cannot expect it to look like something from an over budget sci-fi either, people. As far as the control column is concerned, I am glad that they have gone with the traditional and not the stupid new-age joystick crap you find in airbus. It will be a great aircraft because the concept is very good, allowing that they take all into consideration as the WK2 will be going into zero-g and entering space soon.