So I woke up this morning, and as is the case twice a week, my AvWebFlash was waiting for my in my lovely little electronic mailbox. First story on the list was that Virgin Galactic has released the final designs of the vehicle that will, in the near future, take paying tourists on suborbital space flights. Now this is something that I’ve been following with a fair amount if interest ever since SpaceShipOne made its historical flight back in 2004.

Well, it’s been a long journey, taking over two years, but this past weekend Art Nalls took his privately-owned Sea Harrier for its first flight. Unfortunately, the second day of flying saw a partial hydraulic failure and ended in a partial gear-up landing. The good thing is that it’s a Harrier, so landing vertically is a pretty good solution for this situation. The aircraft suffered fairly minor damage, but it’s still another setback.