Virgin Galactic's VVS Unity performs first glide flight in preparation to take tourists to space

Ready for your next big trip? Because this one might be to space.

At least that is what Virgin Galactic wants. The company is working on getting its SpaceShipTwo, named VVS Unity, up and running to take tourists to space. The spacecraft is not quite ready yet for commercial flight, but it is getting there. 

In IT Blogwatch, our tray tables are in the upright and locked position.

So what exactly is going on? David Szondy has the background:

Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity has taken...its first free flight. The suborbital passenger spacecraft was dropped by the WhiteKnightTwo mothership at the Virgin Galactic test site over the Mojave Desert during...[an] unpowered free flight to test the craft's systems and collect telemetry data.
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During Saturday's flight, Unity was released at an altitude of 50,000 ft...and reached a maximum velocity of Mach 0.6 (457 mph).

But what does that mean? Sophie Kleeman fills in the blanks:

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