Space Ship One second Flight and Feather Mode

Check out Scaled.com for details about the second flight of Space Ship
One and it's successful flight test feathering the flight surfaces for
a test of the re-entry system.

Posted without permission -

Clean separation from launch at 48,200 feet and 105 knots, 8 miles
north east of Mojave. First maneuver was a full stall, resulting in 70
KEAS at about 19 alpha. Good lateral control at minimum speed with
ailerons and even better with rudder allowing timely control of
roll-off tendencies. Second maneuver was unlocking the wing and
commanding the full feathered mode (65 deg wing/tail jackknife).
Transition to the feather mode occurred at 43,000 feet and 90 knots.
As the tail booms and aft wing transitioned upward, the vehicle body
smoothly pitched up and then returned to an approximately level pitch
attitude during about 70 seconds of fully-feathered descent. The pilot
noted the expected airframe buffeting and found the ship was very
stable at an angle of attack of about 70 degrees. He was able to turn
the vehicle both left and right with either rudder or aileron
controls. As expected, full pitch control inputs had little effect on
the flight path. Average sink rate was greater than 10,000 feet per
minute. Reconfiguration back to the normal glider mode occurred at
30,000 feet with a positive wing lock indicated by on-board
instrumentation and cameras. Third and forth maneuvers were the
airspeed and G envelope expansion which were flown without incident.
Fifth maneuver was roll-performance, which resulted in a low amount of
adverse yaw but lower roll rates than expected. Three-axis vehicle
flight characteristics again showed close correlation to the vehicle
simulator. Shifting winds at the field during later stages of the
descent allowed the pilot to exercise the avionics' flexibility for
landing cuing back to Runway 12 vice the planned runway 30 at Mojave.
A smooth touchdown was made ten and a half minutes after launch. The
video cameras mounted on the spaceship recorded dramatic views
particularly during the unique feather maneuver. Observers in the
chase Starship were treated to a closeup bizarre view of the spaceship
plunging downward in a rock-stable near vertical feathered descent.
First public showings of these videos will be on 26 September at the
annual SETP symposium in Los Angeles.