Editing Sub-orbital spaceflight (section)

===Tourist flights===
[[Space tourism|Sub-orbital tourist flights]] will initially focus on attaining the altitude required to qualify as reaching space. The flight path will be either vertical or very steep, with the spacecraft landing back at its take-off site.

The spacecraft will shut off its [[engine]]s well before reaching maximum altitude, and then coast up to its highest point. During a few minutes, from the point when the engines are shut off to the point where the atmosphere begins to slow down the downward acceleration, the passengers will experience [[weightlessness]].

[[Megaroc]] had been planned for sub-orbital spaceflight by the [[British Interplanetary Society]] in the 1940s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150824-how-a-nazi-rocket-could-have-put-a-briton-in-space|title=How a Nazi rocket could have put a Briton in space|first=Richard|last=Hollingham|website=bbc.com|date=25 August 2015 |access-date=4 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114032515/http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150824-how-a-nazi-rocket-could-have-put-a-briton-in-space|archive-date=14 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bis-space.com/what-we-do/projects/megaroc|title=Megaroc|website=www.bis-space.com|access-date=4 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030133900/http://www.bis-space.com/what-we-do/projects/megaroc|archive-date=30 October 2016}}</ref>

In late 1945, a group led by M. Tikhonravov K. and N. G. Chernysheva at the Soviet NII-4 academy (dedicated to rocket artillery science and technology), began work on a stratospheric rocket project, [[Project VR-190|VR-190]], aimed at vertical flight by a crew of two pilots, to an altitude of 200&nbsp;km (65,000&nbsp;ft) using captured [[V-2 rocket|V-2]].<ref>{{Cite book |author=Anatoli I. Kiselev |author2=Alexander A. Medvedev| author3=Valery A. Menshikov |title=Astronautics: Summary and Prospects |translator=V. Sherbakov |translator2=N. Novichkov |translator3=A. Nechaev |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|date=December 2012|pages=1–2|isbn=9783709106488}}</ref>

In 2004, a number of companies worked on vehicles in this class as entrants to the Ansari X Prize competition. The [[Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne]] was officially declared by [[Richard A. Searfoss|Rick Searfoss]] to have won the competition on October 4, 2004, after completing two flights within a two-week period.

In 2005, [[Richard Branson|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|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|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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scaled.com/projects/test_logs/35/model_339_spaceshiptwo |title=Scaled Composites: Projects - Test Logs for SpaceShipTwo |access-date=2013-08-14 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130816140953/http://www.scaled.com/projects/test_logs/35/model_339_spaceshiptwo |archive-date=2013-08-16 }}</ref> 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 [[VSS Enterprise crash|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."<ref>"Branson on Virgin Galactic crash: 'Space is hard – but worth it'". CNET. Retrieved August 1, 2015.</ref>