Virgin Galactic May Attempt a Rocket-Powered Test Flight Next WeekIt's the first rocket-powered Unity test from its new Spaceport America New Mexico base.

Virgin Galactic plans to do the first rocket-powered test flight of its VSS Unity spacecraft from its freshly christenedSpaceport Americafacility in New Mexico as early as next week, the companyannounced. It could launch as soon as December 11th, and would be the first rocket-powered Unity flight since it took a passenger to the edge of space inFebruary, 2019.

So far in New Mexico, Virgin Galactic has conducted Unityglide testsafter drops by the carrier plane Eve, but no rocket-powered ones. It hadplanned to start rocket testsa bit earlier between November 19-23, but those dates were pushed back due to the COVID-19 crisis.

The flight team has a number of objectives in mind, "including testing elements of the customer cabin as well as assessing the upgraded horizontal stabilizers and flight controls during boost," Virgin wrote in apress release. The ship will also carry research payloads, including three from NASA's Flight Opportunities Program, following acontract awardby the US space agency.