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Crowds were thick along the flight line on Monday afternoon to watch as the double-hulled WhiteKnightTwo, also known as Mothership “Eve,” (named after Sir Richard Branson’s mother), arrived at Oshkosh to take its place on Aeroshell Square for EAA AirVenture. Threatening storm clouds to the west held off just long enough to allow the huge airplane time to circle near the airport a couple of times, while some other flights took off, and then it made a long quiet glide to a landing along the runway. Sir Richard Branson and aircraft designer Burt Rutan briefly greeted the crowd at the landing site and promised to talk more about the project and provide updates on the status of SpaceShipTwo during the week.
The aircraft flew to Oshkosh from Mojave at 52,000 feet, and is scheduled to fly on Tuesday and Thursday then head home at roughly 10 a.m. Saturday. Forums will be held Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the Honda Forums pavillion. WhiteKnightTwo will act as the carrier aircraft to carry SpaceShipTwo to the edge of space, and also will perform as a launch aircraft for satellites.
