Virgin Galactic‘s private spaceship flew higher and faster than it ever had before on Thursday (Sept. 5), giving company officials confidence that the vehicle is on track to start carrying passengers on suborbital jaunts next year.

In its second-ever rocket-powered test flight, which took off Thursday morning from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo reached a maximum altitude of 65,000 feet (19,800 meters) and a top speed of Mach 1.6, or 1.6 times the speed of sound (which is about 761 mph, or 1,225 km/h, at sea level).

The six-passenger space plane got up to 56,000 feet (17,000 m) and Mach 1.2 during its only previous powered flight, which occurred on April 29. SpaceShipTwo’s engine burned for 16 seconds during that first test, compared to 20 seconds on Thursday, Virgin Galactic officials said.

See the pics. URL: http://www.space.com/22662-virgin-galactic-spaceshiptwo-second-powered-flight-photos.html

Source: http://www.space.com