The aircraft was named afterEvette Branson, the mother ofRichard Branson, Chairman of theVirgin Group. The jet plane hasnose art of a blonde woman holding a banner with the Virgin Galactic logo.[5] The image is based on how Evette Branson looked when she was younger and is calledGalactic Girl.[6] The aircraft was officially launched on July 28, 2008, inMojave,California, theUnited States, at theMojave Spaceport, home of Scaled Composites. On December 12, 2008, the aircraft performed first taxi tests,[7] and a week later the maiden flight.[8]Eve was used in the Virgin Galactic testflight program before entry into commercial usage.[9]
Burt Rutan has dismissed fears that pressurization cycles might inducefatigue failure in the composite structure.[10] Richard Branson has also announced that it will be highly fuel efficient.[11]
The initial flight occurred on 21 December 2008, after an initial low speed taxi test was carried out atMojave[12] followed by a high speed taxi on 16 December.[13] By September 2009 the flight envelope was extended to 50000 feet.[14] As of 19 September 2014 the total flight time for WhiteKnightTwo was 333.96 hours.
As of September 22, 2025, there have been 3 test flights after 2014. One in October 2021, where it flew from Spaceport America to Mojave for extensive testing,[15] and two in February 2023, the first being on February 15th, when it conducted a flight from the Mojave Air and Space Port, which lasted over 2 and 1/2 hours, and reached an altitude of 41,500 ft (12,650 meters).[16]
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