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Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. is a British-American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group conglomerate which retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and operates from New Mexico. The company develops commercial spacecraft and provides suborbital spaceflights to space tourists. Virgin Galactic's suborbital spacecraft are air launched from beneath a carrier airplane known as White Knight Two. Virgin Galactic's maiden spaceflight occurred in 2018 with its VSS Unity spaceship. Branson had originally hoped to see a maiden spaceflight by 2010, but the date was delayed, primarily due to the October 2014 crash of VSS Enterprise.

The company did the early work on the satellite launch development of LauncherOne before this was hived off to a separate company, Virgin Orbit, in 2017. The company also has aspirations for suborbital transport, to provide rocket-powered, point-to-point 3000 mph air travel. The spin-off company, Virgin Orbit was shut down in May 2023.

On 13 December 2018, VSS Unity achieved the project's first suborbital space flight, VSS Unity VP-03, with two pilots, reaching an altitude of 82.7 km, and officially entering outer space by U.S. standards. In February 2019, the project carried three people, including a passenger, on VSS Unity VF-01, with a member of the team floating within the cabin during a spaceflight that reached 89.9 km. On 11 July 2021, founder Richard Branson and three other employees rode on a flight as passengers, marking the first time a spaceflight company founder has travelled on his own ship into outer space. In February 2022, Virgin Galactic announced that it was opening ticket sales to the public. The price of a reservation was $450,000. In June 2023, Virgin Galactic launched its first commercial space tourism flight called Galactic 01. Galactic 07 in June 2024 was the final flight of Unity as the company shifted focus to its Delta class vehicles and a higher launch cadence.

Formation and early activities
Virgin Galactic was founded in 2004 by British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, who had previously founded the Virgin Group and the Virgin Atlantic airline, and who had a long personal history of balloon and surface record-breaking activities. As part of Branson's promotion of the firm, he has added a variation of the Virgin Galactic livery to his personal business jet, the Dassault Falcon 900EX "Galactic girl" (G-GALX).

The Spaceship Company
The Spaceship Company (TSC) was founded by Richard Branson through Virgin Group (which owned 70%) and Burt Rutan through Scaled Composites (which owned 30%) to build commercial spaceships and launch aircraft for space travel. From the time of TSC's formation in 2005, the launch customer was Virgin Galactic, which contracted to purchase five SpaceShipTwos and two WhiteKnightTwos. Scaled Composites was contracted to develop and build the initial prototypes of WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo, and then TSC began production of the follow-on vehicles beginning in 2008. In 2012, after Northrop Grumman acquired Scaled Composites, Virgin Galactic acquired the remaining 30% of The Spaceship Company.

Investors
After a claimed investment by Virgin Group of US$100 million, in 2010 the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi, Aabar Investments group, acquired a 31.8% stake in Virgin Galactic for US$280 million, receiving exclusive regional rights to launch tourism and scientific research space flights from the United Arab Emirates capital. In July 2011, Aabar invested a further US$110 million to develop a program to launch small satellites into low Earth orbit, raising their equity share to 37.8%. Virgin announced in June 2014 that they were in talks with Google about the injection of capital to fund both development and operations. The New Mexico government has invested approximately $200m (£121m) in the Spaceport America facility, for which Virgin Galactic is the anchor tenant; other commercial space companies also use the site.

On Monday 28 October 2019, Virgin Galactic listed into the New York Stock Exchange, trading under the ticker symbol 'SPCE', the first publicly traded space tourism company (i.e., company whose primary business is space tourism). The company raised $450 million through a SPAC merger listing, and company's market value after listing was more than $2.4 billion. At the time, the company claimed to have over 600 customer reservations representing approximately $80 million in total collected deposits and more than $120 million in "potential revenue".

Retail interest
After its listing, SPCE was a popular stock for many retail investors and was often mentioned on the subreddit r/wallstreetbets.

Early history and background
The Ansari X Prize was a space competition in which the X Prize Foundation offered a US$10,000,000 prize for the first non-government organization to launch a reusable crewed spacecraft into space twice within two weeks. It was modeled after early 20th-century aviation prizes, and aimed to spur development of low-cost spaceflight.

Created in May 1996 and initially called just the "X Prize", it was renamed the "Ansari X Prize" on May 6, 2004 following a multimillion-dollar donation from entrepreneurs Anousheh Ansari and Amir Ansari.

The prize was won on October 4, 2004, the 47th anniversary of the Sputnik 1 launch, by the Tier One project designed by Burt Rutan and financed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, using the experimental spaceplane SpaceShipOne. $10 million was awarded to the winner, and more than $100 million was invested in new technologies in pursuit of the prize.

Overview of the flights to be developed
The spacecraft initially called SpaceShipTwo was planned to achieve a suborbital journey with a short period of weightlessness. Carried to about 16 kilometers, or 52,000 ft, underneath a carrier aircraft, White Knight Two, after separation the vehicle was to continue to over 100 km (the Kármán line, a common definition of where "space" begins). The time from liftoff of the White Knight Two mothership carrying SpaceShipTwo until the touchdown of the spacecraft after the suborbital flight would be about 2.5 hours. The suborbital flight itself would be only a small fraction of that time, with weightlessness lasting approximately 6 minutes. Passengers were to be able to release themselves from their seats during these six minutes and float around the cabin.

2007 Scaled Composites fuel tank testing explosion
In July 2007, three Scaled Composites employees were killed and three critically injured at the Mojave spaceport while testing components of the rocket motor for SpaceShipTwo. An explosion occurred during a cold fire test, which involved nitrous oxide flowing through fuel injectors. The procedure had been expected to be safe.

Commencement of sub-space test flights
Just a year later, in July 2008, Richard Branson predicted the maiden space voyage would take place within 18 months. In October 2009, Virgin Galactic announced that initial flights would take place from Spaceport America "within two years." Later that year, Scaled Composites announced that White Knight Two's first SpaceShipTwo captive flights would be in early 2010. Both aircraft did fly together in March 2010. The credibility of the earlier promises of launch dates by Virgin Galactic were brought into question in October 2014 by its chief executive, George T. Whitesides, when he told The Guardian: "We've changed dramatically as a company. When I joined in 2010 we were mostly a marketing organisation. Right now we can design, build, test, and fly a rocket motor all by ourselves and all in Mojave, which I don't think is done anywhere else on the planet".

On 7 December 2009, SpaceShipTwo was unveiled at the Mojave Spaceport. Branson told the 300 people attending, each of whom had booked rides at $200,000 each, that flights would begin "in 2011." However, in April 2011, Branson announced further delays, saying "I hope 18 months from now, we'll be sitting in our spaceship and heading off into space." By February 2012, SpaceShipTwo had completed 15 test flights attached to White Knight Two and an additional 16 glide tests, the last of which took place in September 2011. A rocket-powered test flight of SpaceShipTwo took place on 29 April 2013, with an engine burn of 16 seconds duration. The brief flight began at an altitude of 47,000 feet and reached a maximum altitude of 55,000 feet. While the SS2 achieved a speed of Mach 1.2 (920 mph), this was less than half the 2,000 mph speed predicted by Richard Branson. SpaceShipTwo's second supersonic flight achieved a speed of 1,100 mph for 20 seconds; while this was an improvement, it fell far short of the 2,500 mph for 70 seconds required to carry six passengers into space. However, Branson still announced his spaceship would be capable of "launching 100 satellites every day."

In addition to the suborbital passenger business, Virgin Galactic intended to market SpaceShipTwo for suborbital space science missions and market White Knight Two for "small satellite" launch services. It had planned to initiate RFPs for the satellite business in early 2010, but flights had not materialized as of 2014.

On 14 May 2013, Richard Branson stated on Virgin Radio Dubai's Kris Fade Morning Show that he would be aboard the first public flight of SpaceShipTwo, which had again been rescheduled, this time to December 25, 2013. "Maybe I'll dress up as Father Christmas", Branson said. The third rocket-powered test flight of SpaceShipTwo took place on 10 January 2014 and successfully tested the spaceship's Reaction Control System (RCS) and the newly installed thermal protection coating on the vehicle's tail booms. Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said "We are progressively closer to our target of starting commercial service in 2014". Interviewed by The Observer at the time of her 90th birthday in July 2014, Branson's mother, Eve, told reporter Elizabeth Day of her intention of going to space herself. Asked when that might be, she replied: "I think it's the end of the year", adding after a pause, "It's always 'the end of the year' ".

In February 2014, cracks in WhiteKnightTwo, where the spars connect with the fuselage, were discovered during an inspection conducted after Virgin Galactic took possession of the aircraft from builder Scaled Composites.

In September 2014, Richard Branson described the intended date for the first commercial flight as February or March 2015; by the time of this announcement, a new plastic-based fuel had yet to be ignited in-flight. By September 2014, the three test flights of the SS2 had only reached an altitude of around 71,000 ft, approximately 13 miles; in order to receive a Federal Aviation Administration licence to carry passengers, the craft needs to complete test missions at full speed and 62-mile height. Following the announcement of further delays, UK newspaper The Sunday Times reported that Branson faced a backlash from those who had booked flights with Virgin Galactic, with the company having received $80 million in fares and deposits. Tom Bower, author of Branson: The Man behind the Mask, told the Sunday Times: "They spent 10 years trying to perfect one engine and failed. They are now trying to use a different engine and get into space in six months. It's just not feasible." BBC science editor David Shukman commented in October 2014, that "[Branson's] enthusiasm and determination [are] undoubted. But his most recent promises of launching the first passenger trip by the end of this year had already started to look unrealistic some months ago."

VSS Enterprise crash
At 10:51 PST 31 October 2014, the fourth rocket-powered test flight of the company's first SpaceShipTwo craft, VSS Enterprise, ended in disaster, as it broke apart in mid-air, with the debris falling into the Mojave desert in California, shortly after being released from the mothership. Initial reports attributed the loss to an unidentified "in-flight anomaly". The flight was the first test of SpaceShipTwo with new plastic-based fuel, replacing the original—a rubber-based solid fuel that had not met expectations. 39-year-old co-pilot Michael Alsbury was killed and 43-year-old pilot Peter Siebold was seriously injured.

Investigation and media comment
Initial investigations found that the engine and propellant tanks were intact, showing that there had not been a fuel explosion. Telemetry data and cockpit video showed that instead, the air braking system appeared to have deployed incorrectly and too early, for unknown reasons, and that the craft had violently broken apart in mid-air seconds later.

U.S. National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Christopher Hart said on 2 November 2014 that investigators had determined SpaceShipTwo's tail system was supposed to have been released for deployment as the craft was traveling about 1.4 times the speed of sound; instead, the tail section began pivoting when the vehicle was flying at Mach 1. "I'm not stating that this is the cause of the mishap. We have months and months of investigation to determine what the cause was." Asked if pilot error was a possible factor, Hart said: "We are looking at all of these issues to determine what was the root cause of this mishap." He noted that it was also unclear how the tail mechanism began to rotate once it was unlocked, since that maneuver requires a separate pilot command that was never given, and whether the craft's position in the air and its speed somehow enabled the tail section to swing free on its own.

In November 2014, Branson and Virgin Galactic came under criticism for their attempts to distance the company from the disaster by referring to the test pilots as Scaled Composites employees. Virgin Galactic's official statement on 31 October 2014 said: "Virgin Galactic's partner Scaled Composites conducted a powered test flight of SpaceShipTwo earlier today. [...] Local authorities have confirmed that one of the two Scaled Composites pilots died during the accident". This was in strong contrast to public communications previously released concerning the group's successful flights, which had routinely presented pilots, craft, and projects within the same organizational structures, as being "Virgin Galactic" flights or activities of "the Galactic team". The BBC's David Shukman commented that: "Even as details emerge of what went wrong, this is clearly a massive setback to a company hoping to pioneer a new industry of space tourism. Confidence is everything and this will not encourage the long list of celebrity and millionaire customers waiting for their first flight".

At a hearing in Washington D.C. on 28 July 2015, and a press release on the same day the NTSB cited inadequate design safeguards, poor pilot training, lack of rigorous FAA oversight and a potentially anxious co-pilot without recent flight experience as important factors in the 2014 crash. They determined that the co-pilot, who died in the accident, prematurely unlocked a movable tail section some ten seconds after SpaceShip Two fired its rocket engine and was breaking the sound barrier, resulting in the craft's breaking apart. But the Board also found that the Scaled Composites unit of Northrop Grumman, which designed and flew the prototype space tourism vehicle, did not properly prepare for potential human slip-ups by providing a fail-safe system that could have guarded against such premature deployment. "A single-point human failure has to be anticipated," board member Robert Sumwalt said. Instead, Scaled Composites "put all their eggs in the basket of the pilots doing it correctly."

NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart emphasized that consideration of human factors, which was not emphasized in the design, safety assessment, and operation of SpaceShipTwo's feather system, was critical to safe human spaceflight to mitigate the potential consequences of human error. "Manned commercial spaceflight is a new frontier, with many unknown risks and hazards. In such an environment, safety margins around known hazards must be rigorously established and, where possible, expanded. For commercial spaceflight to successfully mature, we must meticulously seek out and mitigate known hazards, as a prerequisite to identifying and mitigating new hazards." In its submission to the NTSB, Virgin Galactic reported that the second SS2, at the time nearing completion, had been modified with an automatic mechanical inhibit device to prevent locking or unlocking of the feather during safety-critical phases. An explicit warning about the dangers of premature unlocking had also been added to the checklist and operating handbook, and a formalized crew resource management (CRM) approach, already used by Virgin for its WK2 operations, was being adopted for SS2. However, despite CRM issues being cited as a likely contributing cause, Virgin confirmed that it would not modify the cockpit display system.

While Virgin had been pursuing the development of a smallsat launch vehicle since 2012, the company began in 2015 to make the smallsat launch business a larger part of Virgin's core business plan, as the Virgin human spaceflight program had experienced multiple delays. This part of the business was spun off into a new company called Virgin Orbit in 2017.

VSS Unity
Following the crash of VSS Enterprise, the replacement SpaceShipTwo named VSS Unity was rolled out on 19 February 2016. Test flights were set to begin after ground tests completed in August 2016. VSS Unity completed its first flight (first free flight; captive carry flights had taken place since September 2016), a successful glide test, in December 2016. The glide lasted ten minutes. By January 2018, seven glide tests had been completed, and on 5 April 2018 it performed a powered test flight, the first since 2014. By July 2018, Unity had gone considerably higher and faster in its testing program than had its predecessor. On 13 December 2018, VSS Unity reached a height of 82.7 km (51.4 miles) above the Earth at speeds close to three times the speed of sound. The two pilots, Mark "Forger" Stucky and Frederick "CJ" Sturckow earned commercial astronaut wings from the US government for the accomplishment. Another flight in February 2019 carried third crew member (1 in the passenger cabin) for the first time.

After transfer to Spaceport America in New Mexico in February 2020, a couple of 15 km altitude test flights were carried out. Due to a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases in New Mexico, Virgin Galactic had to postpone a key test flight of its spacecraft in November 2020, and then in December 2020, a computer connection issue prevented engine ignition. On 22 May 2021, VSS Unity flew its sixth powered test flight reaching an altitude of 89 km [55 mi]. This suborbital flight marked the first ever human space flight from New Mexico; it was piloted by CJ Sturkow (pilot-in-command) and Dave MacKay. The VSS Unity was carried to 44,000 feet by the jet powered launch aircraft Mothership Eve, where it was released to reach its suborbital altitude over New Mexico. A fully crewed test flight took place on 11 July 2021 with two pilots Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci and the four passengers were Richard Branson, Beth Moses, Colin Bennett and Sirisha Bandla. The flight was initially claimed to be successful but it was later revealed Unity briefly stepped outside the airspace that had been reserved for it and the FAA were not informed as required. The FAA grounded Virgin Galactic's space planes before allowing a resumption of flights after some changes to procedures including reserving a larger volume of airspace.

On 14 October 2021, Virgin Galactic announced that an upgrade program for Unity and Eve would begin, delaying future commercial flights to mid 2022. This followed material analysis that required further analysis.

Spaceship III
The first Spaceship III, VSS Imagine, was rolled out on 30 March 2021 and it was indicated there is ground testing to do before glide test flights should commence not earlier than Summer 2021.

Potential collaboration with NASA
In February 2007, Virgin announced that they had signed a memorandum of understanding with NASA to explore the potential for collaboration, but this produced only a relatively small contract in 2011 of up to $4.5 million for research flights.

OneWeb satellite Internet access provider
Virgin Group in January 2015 announced an investment into the OneWeb satellite constellation providing world Internet access service of WorldVu. Virgin Galactic would take a share of the launch contracts to launch the satellites into their 1,200 km orbits. The prospective launches were to use the LauncherOne system. In 2017 the LauncherOne business was spun off into Virgin Orbit, which ceased operations in 2023 following bankruptcy.

Collaboration with Boom Technology
Virgin Galactic and the Virgin Group collaborated with Boom Technology in order to create a new supersonic passenger transporter as a successor to the Concorde. This new supersonic plane would fly at Mach 2.2 (similar to Concorde) for a 3-hour trans-Atlantic flight (half of standard), projected to cost $2,500–10,000 per seat (half of Concorde) for a load of 45 passengers (the Concorde held 100). It was anticipated that with the accumulation of knowledge since the design of Concorde, the new plane would be safer and cheaper with better fuel economy, operating costs, and aerodynamics. Boom would collaborate with Virgin's The Spaceship Company for design, engineering, and flight-test support, and manufacturing.

The initial model would be the Boom Technology XB-1 "Baby Boom" Supersonic Demonstrator 1/3-size prototype. It would be capable of trans-Pacific flight, LA-to-Sydney in 6.75 hours, traveling at 2335 km/h. XB-1 would be equipped with General Electric J85 engines, Honeywell avionics, with composite structures fabricated by Blue Force using TenCate Advanced Composites carbon fibre products. Virgin Galactic had optioned 10 units. These options expired in 2020.

Collaboration with Under Armour
On 24 January 2019, Virgin Galactic announced a partnership with Under Armour for the fabrication of space suits for passengers and pilots of SpaceShipTwo. Under Armour would also create uniforms for Virgin Galactic employees working at Spaceport America. The full range known as the UA | VG (Under Armour | Virgin Galactic) built with UA's new Intelliknit fabric was revealed later, ahead of Richard Branson's inaugural commercial flight. This range included a base layer, the space suit and footwear. It was said that the base layer would enhance performance and blood flow during the high and zero G portions of flight and the liner of the spacesuit was made up of new fabrics such as Tencel Luxe, SpinIt and Nomex, used for temperature control and moisture management.

Key personnel
David Mackay, former RAF test pilot, was named chief pilot for Virgin Galactic in 2011 and chief test-pilot. Steve Isakowitz was appointed as Virgin Galactic's president in June 2013. In October 2016, Mike Moses replaced Steve Isakowitz as president; Isakowitz moved to Aerospace Corp. to become president and CEO; Moses was promoted from VP Operations, and was once a NASA flight director and shuttle integration manager.

Personnel

 * Founder: Richard Branson
 * Interim Chairman: Ray Mabus
 * CEO: Michael Colglazier
 * CFO: Doug Ahrens
 * President - Safety: Mike Moses

Pilot corps

 * Chief pilot: Dave "Mac" Mackay
 * Chief flight instructor: Mike "Sooch" Masucci
 * Test pilot: Kelly Latimer
 * Pilot: Rick "CJ" Sturckow
 * Pilot: Nicola Pecile
 * Chief space flight participant instructor: Beth Moses
 * Space flight participant instructor: Colin Bennett

White Knight Two
The White Knight Two is a special aeroplane built as the mothership and launch-platform for the spacecraft SpaceShipTwo and the uncrewed launch vehicle LauncherOne (LauncherOne never launched from underneath a White Knight Two). The mothership is a large fixed-wing aircraft with two hulls linked together by a central wing. Two aircraft were planned – VMS Eve and VMS Spirit of Steve Fossett. On May 22, 2021 Mothership Eve was used to carry VSS Unity to a launch altitude of 44,000 feet.

Boeing 747
The LauncherOne system used a Boeing 747-400 aircraft, renamed Cosmic Girl, which was acquired from Virgin Atlantic. This was spun off into Virgin Orbit with the LauncherOne business in 2017.

Generation II mothership
Virgin Galactic plans to have generation 2 motherships ready for 2025, for the next-generation Delta-class spaceplanes. In July 2022, Virgin announced it would partner with Boeing's Aurora Flight Sciences to design and build the next generation of mothership.

Boeing ended work on the contract in 2023 and has now filed suit against Virgin Galactic over unpaid bills according to a report in SpaceNews.

SpaceShip Two
Richard Branson unveiled the rocket plane on 7 December 2009, announcing that, after testing, the plane would carry fare-paying passengers ticketed for short duration journeys just above the atmosphere. Virgin Group would initially launch from a base in New Mexico before extending operations around the globe. Built from lightweight carbon-composite materials and powered by a hybrid rocket motor, SS2 was based on the Ansari X Prize-winning SpaceShipOne concept – a rocket plane that was lifted initially by a carrier aircraft before independent launch. SS1 became the world's first private spaceship with a series of high-altitude flights in 2004.

The programme was delayed after three Scaled Composites employees – Todd Ivens, Eric Blackwell and Charles May – were killed in an accident in Mojave on 26 July 2007, where the detonation of a tank of nitrous oxide destroyed a test stand. They had been observing the test from behind a chain-link fence that offered no protection from the shrapnel and debris when the tank exploded. Three other employees were injured in the blast and the company was fined for breaches of health and safety rules. The cause of the accident has never been made public.

The successor to SS1, SS2 was twice as large, measuring 18 m (60 ft) in length; whereas SpaceShipOne could carry a single pilot and two passengers, SS2 was planned to have a crew of two and room for six passengers. By August 2013, 640 customers had signed up for a flight, initially at a ticket price of $200,000 per person, but raised to $250,000 in May 2013. Tickets were available from more than 140 "space agents" worldwide.

SpaceShipTwo's projected performance
SpaceShipTwo was designed to fly to a height of 110 km, going beyond the defined boundary of space (100 km) and lengthening the experience of weightlessness for its passengers. The spacecraft would reach a top speed of 4000 km/h (2485 mph). On 23 May 2014, Virgin Galactic announced that they had abandoned use of the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) nitrous-oxide-rubber motor for SpaceShipTwo; on 24 July 2014, SNC confirmed that they had also abandoned use of this motor for their Dream Chaser space shuttle. Future testing was to see SpaceShipTwo powered by a polyamide grain powered motor. As of July 2021 the maximum height reached has been 89.9 km.

In honor of the science-fiction series Star Trek, the first ship was named after the fictional starship Enterprise. To reenter the atmosphere, SpaceShipTwo folded its wings up and then returned them to their original position for an unpowered descent flight back onto the runway. The craft had a very limited cross-range capability, and until other planned spaceports would be built worldwide, it had to land in the area where it started. Further spaceports were planned in Abu Dhabi and elsewhere, with the intention that the spaceline would have a worldwide availability and commodity in the future.

There was a series of delays to the SS2 flight test vehicle becoming operational, amidst repeated assurances from Virgin Galactic marketing that operational flights were only a year or two out. The Wall Street Journal reported in November 2014 that there has been "tension between Mr. Branson's upbeat projections and the persistent hurdles that challenged the company's hundreds of technical experts." The company responded that "the company and its contractors 'have internal milestones, such as schedule estimates and goals, but the companies are driven by safety and the completion of the flight test program before moving into commercial service.' Virgin Galactic's schedules have always been consistent with internal schedules of its contractors and changes have 'never impacted flight safety'."

SpaceShip III
SpaceShip III is an evolved version of SpaceShipTwo.

Delta-class spaceship
Virgin Galactic plans to have its third generation spaceship, the Delta class, ready for testing in 2025 and commercial flight in 2026, along with the next generation of mothership. The Delta class is to be functionally the same as the SpaceShip III class, but it has been redesigned for higher production volumes.

Commercial spaceflight locations
In 2008 it was announced that test launches for its fleet of two White Knight Two mother ships and five or more SpaceShipTwo tourist suborbital spacecraft would take place from the Mojave Spaceport, where Scaled Composites was constructing the spacecraft. An international architectural competition for the design of Virgin Galactic's operating base, Spaceport America in New Mexico, saw the contract awarded to URS and Foster + Partners architects. In the same year Virgin Galactic announced that it would eventually operate in Europe out of Spaceport Sweden or even from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland.

While the original plan called for flight operations to transfer from the California desert to the new spaceport upon completion of the spaceport, at the time Virgin Galactic had yet to complete the development and test program of SpaceShipTwo. In October 2010, the 3,000 m (10,000 ft) runway at Spaceport America was opened, with SpaceShipTwo "VSS Enterprise" shipped to the site carried underneath the fuselage of Virgin Galactic's mothership Eve.

LauncherOne
LauncherOne was an orbital launch vehicle that Virgin Galactic had begun working on by late 2008, with the technical specifications defined in some detail in late 2009. The LauncherOne configuration was proposed to be an expendable, two-stage, liquid-fueled rocket, envisaged to be air-launched from a White Knight Two. This would make it a similar configuration to that used by Orbital Sciences' Pegasus, or a smaller version of the StratoLaunch.

LauncherOne was publicly announced in July 2012. It was intended to launch "smallsat" payloads of 200 kg into Earth orbit. Several commercial customers initially contracted for launches, including GeoOptics, Skybox Imaging, Spaceflight Services, and Planetary Resources. Both Surrey Satellite Technology and Sierra Nevada Space Systems began developing satellite buses "optimized to the design of LauncherOne".

In 2015, Virgin Galactic established a 150000 sqft research, development, and manufacturing center for LauncherOne at the Long Beach Airport. The company reported in March 2015 that they were on schedule to begin test flights of LauncherOne with its Newton 3 engine by the end of 2016. On 25 June 2015, the company signed a contract with OneWeb Ltd. for 39 satellite launches for its satellite constellation with an option for an additional 100 launches.

In March 2017, Virgin Galactic spun off its 200-member LauncherOne team into a new company called Virgin Orbit. Virgin Orbit went bankrupt in 2023 after a few space launches.

Point to point suborbital travel
In 2016 TSC, Virgin Galactic and the Virgin Group began a collaboration with Boom Technology to develop a supersonic trans-oceanic passenger jetliner. A mission concept review of a Mach 3 vehicle design was carried out.

Competition
Virgin Galactic is not the only corporation pursuing suborbital spacecraft for tourism.

Blue Origin
Blue Origin was developing suborbital flights with its New Shepard spacecraft at the same time as Virgin Galactic developed their vehicles. Although initially more secretive about its plans, Jeff Bezos' company ended up developing a spacecraft that takes off and lands vertically and could carry six (at sometime planned four) people to the edge of space. New Shepard first flew unmanned above the Karman line and landed in 2015 and the same vehicle was reflown unmanned to above the Karman line again in 2016.

On 20 July 2021, Blue Origin flew their first crewed flight and first paying customer, Dutch teenager Oliver Daemen. Also on the flight were Bezos himself, his younger brother, and aviation legend Wally Funk.

Commercial Crew Program
On 16 September 2014, SpaceX and Boeing were awarded contracts as part of NASA's CCtCap program to develop their Crew Dragon and CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, respectively. Both are capsule designs to bring crew to orbit, a different commercial market than that addressed by Virgin Galactic.

XCOR
Now-defunct XCOR Aerospace had also worked on rocket-powered aircraft during many of the years that Virgin Galactic had; XCOR's Lynx suborbital vehicle was under development for more than a decade, and its predecessor, the XCOR EZ-Rocket experimental rocket powered airplane did actually take flight, but the company closed its doors in 2017.

First launch of founder into space
On 11 July 2021 Virgin Galactic became the first spaceflight company to independently launch a founder of the company into space, using the 50 mile high US definition of space, having flown founder Richard Branson above the 50 mile mark on flight Unity 22. This suborbital flight was accomplished using the twin-fuselage aircraft launch platform VMS Eve, coupled together with VSS Unity, enabling Branson, three other employee passengers and the two pilots to experience approximately three minutes of weightlessness above Earth's atmosphere. The entire flight lasted approximately one hour, taking off and landing at Spaceport America facility near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

This flight had originally been scheduled to occur later in the summer; however, shortly after the announcement of competitor Blue Origin's plans to fly Amazon founder Jeff Bezos into space on 20 July 2021, the Virgin Galactic flight was rescheduled to occur on 11 July 2021. At the time Virgin Galactic had been certified by the FAA to provide commercial spaceflight travel, and its accounts reported that over 600 commercial passengers had already signed up. The August 2021 price was US$450,000 per person.

First commercial flight
Virgin Galactic (at some point) planned to begin commercial spaceflight service in 2022; and said it was in the final phases of returning its suborbital spaceplane to commercial service in Feb 2022. The first commercial flight took place on 29 June 2023 with three outside passengers (people not employed by Virgin Galactic). The 70-minute mission was purchased for the Italian Air Force and the Italian National Research Council. The company at the time had a backlog of 800 or so individuals who've bought tickets to ride on Unity. The approximate launch cadence at the time was about one launch a month.

title: Virgin Galactic


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Singapore Army

The Singapore Army is the land service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). The largest of the four branches of the SAF, the Singapore Army traces its origins to the 1st Battalion, Singapore Infantry Regiment (1 SIR), which was formed in 1957, when Singapore was still under British colonial rule. After Singapore's independence on 9 August 1965, the Singapore Army Bill was passed in Parliament on 23 December 1965, and National Service (NS) was subsequently introduced in 1967. Mostly made up of conscripts, the Singapore Army can mobilise all operationally-ready military reservists in the event of war or national exigencies.

Mission
The mission of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) is to deter armed aggression, and to secure a swift and decisive victory should deterrence fail. The Army is also tasked with conducting peace-time operations to further Singapore's national interests and foreign policy. These range from disaster relief to peacekeeping, hostage rescue and other contingencies.

The Army views technology as a force-multiplier and a means to sustain combat power given Singapore's population constraints. Jointness across four branches of the SAF is integral to the Army's warfighting doctrine. Joint operations undertaken with the Navy and Air Force include amphibious landings and critical disaster relief operations in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

The Army has a technically proficient, relatively well-educated draftee pool and officer corps (non-commissioned and commissioned) reflective of the population at large, and has sought to leverage this to ease its transition into a more sophisticated, networked fighting force.

Combat readiness is a linchpin of Army policy, and military exercises up to divisional level are conducted many times yearly, simulating full-spectrum operations, up to and including full-scale war. Divisional war games are a combined arms, tri-service affair involving the Navy and Air Force. Because training space is limited in Singapore—artillery fire would quickly traverse the island—some military exercises are conducted overseas. Reservists periodically train abroad, their units regularly evaluated for combat readiness. The Army also trains bilaterally with some host nations, and military exchanges are frequent. Training is billed as "tough, realistic and safe," with a premium on safety, given the sensitivity of military deaths in a largely conscript army.

Following the revolution in military affairs, and in tandem with modernising its weapons systems, the Army is forging a transition to a more network-centric fighting doctrine that better integrates the Air Force and Navy.

History
The Singapore Army originated with two infantry battalions, the 1st and 2nd Battalions, Singapore Infantry Regiment (1 SIR and 2 SIR), which were respectively formed in 1957 and 1962 when Singapore was still a British colony. After a merger with Malaysia which resulted in separation in 1965, Singapore passed the Singapore Army Bill in Parliament on 23 December 1965 and gained complete control of the two battalions from Malaysia in January 1966. At the time, the Singapore Army had only the two infantry battalions and the old Singapore Volunteer Artillery Corps. Months later, the Army had a reserve force, the People's Defence Force, which was formed from an old volunteer unit mobilised for service during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation. A third battalion, the 10th Battalion, People's Defence Force (10 PDF), was raised as a volunteer infantry reserve battalion.

In 1967, Parliament passed the National Service (Amendment) Act, introducing National Service (conscription) for all able-bodied young men aged 18 and above. In June 1967, the Singapore Army introduced its first artillery battalion, the 20th Singapore Artillery Battalion (20 SAB). Two new infantry battalions, the 3rd and 4th Battalions, Singapore Infantry Regiment (3 SIR and 4 SIR) were formed in August 1967. In November 1968, the Singapore Army's first armoured battalion, 41st Battalion, Singapore Armoured Regiment (41 SAR), was formed. This was followed by the creation of the 1st Commando Battalion (1 Cdo Bn) in December 1969.

In 1972, Parliament passed the Singapore Armed Forces Act to reorganise and consolidate the Singapore Armed Forces' disparate commands and administrative functions.

Description of logo
The emblem's escutcheon reads "Tentera Singapura" (meaning "Singapore Army" in Malay). The national coat of arms sits in its interior. The motto is "Yang Pertama Dan Utama" ("first and foremost" in Malay). Two stalks of laurel flank the escutcheon. The laurels are green for the Singapore Army and gold for the Singapore Armed Forces.

Operations
The Singapore Army has participated in peacekeeping operations overseas. In the aftermath of the Gulf War, Singapore contributed to the United Nations Iraq–Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) formed in 1991. From May 2007 to June 2013, the Singapore Army deployed about 500 personnel to join the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in maintaining stability and assist in reconstruction in war-torn Afghanistan. Since 2014, the Singapore Army has provided logistical support to the international coalition in the War against the Islamic State.

Organisation
The Army is headed by the Chief of Army, who is assisted by the Chief of Staff – General Staff and the Sergeant Major of the Army. The General Staff consists of six branches from G1 to G6, as well as a National Service Affairs Department handling National Service issues, and an Army Safety Inspectorate. The six branches handle issues relating to personnel (G1), intelligence (G2), operations (G3), logistics (G4), plans (G5) and training (G6). The G1, G2, G3, G5, and G6 branches are each headed by an Assistant Chief of General Staff. Among the General Staff, there is also a Chief Systems Integration Officer and a Head of the Army Information Centre.

The commanders of Training & Doctrine Command (TRADOC), Combat Service Support (CSS), the four main divisions, the two operational reserve divisions, the 15 formations of the Army, and the SAF Volunteer Corps also report to the Chief of Army.

Divisions
The Army has six divisions, of which three are combined arms divisions, one is in charge of counter-terrorism and homeland security, and two are army operational reserves (AOR).

The three combined arms divisions are the 3rd Division (3 DIV), 6th Division (6 DIV) and 9th Division (9 DIV), each of which has active and reserve units that are operationally ready and capable of being mobilised in the event of war.

The 2nd People's Defence Force (2 PDF) is in charge of counter-terrorism and homeland security, including the protection of key military and civilian installations around Singapore. It is also responsible for the coordination and secondment of military resources to civilian agencies in the event of a civil emergency.

The two AOR divisions are the 21st Division (21 DIV) and 25th Division (25 DIV).

Formations
The Army has 15 formations: Ammunition Command, Armour, Army Intelligence, Army Medical Services, Artillery, Combat Engineers, Commandos, Guards, Infantry, Maintenance and Engineering Support, Military Police Command, Personnel Command, Signals, Supply, and Transport.

Task forces
The Army has task forces such as the Island Defence Task Force (IDTF), Joint Task Force (JTF), Special Operations Task Force (SOTF) and the Army Deployment Force (ADF).

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Singapore Army


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Örnsköldsvik

Örnsköldsvik (Orrestaare), often shortened to just Ö-vik, is a locality and the seat of Örnsköldsvik Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden, with 32,953 inhabitants in 2017.

Its natural harbour and archipelago is in the Gulf of Bothnia and the northern boundaries of the High Coast area. It is well known as an exporter of pulp and paper products and heavy machinery goods. It has a strong environmental record and is the "testbed" for ethanol-powered cars.

History

Traces of human activity in the Örnsköldvik area date back to the Nordic Bronze Age and there is a reconstructed Roman Iron Age village called Gene fornby that is a popular tourist attraction just outside the town.

However, Örnsköldsvik itself is a relatively young city; it was founded as a köping (a Swedish market town) in 1842 and became a city in 1894. Its name originates with the surname of governor of Västernorrland County from 1762–9, Per Abraham Örnsköld, and means "Örnsköld's Bay". The surname Örnsköld literally means "Eagle Shield".

The town hosted the 1976 Winter Paralympics, the first Winter Paralympics.

Örnsköldsvik Municipality
The town of Örnsköldsvik is the centre of Örnsköldsviks Kommun or Örnsköldsvik Municipality. The Municipality has a much larger population than the town itself, at over 56,000 inhabitants, as the municipality is vast with very large forest areas, and consists of several rural communities.

Economy
Historically, the most important economic activity was trade and heavy industry. In the surrounding villages (now incorporated into the city itself) two major industrial ventures arose: the pulp, paper, and logging company Mo och Domsjö (MoDo), now known as Holmen, and Hägglund & Söner (Hägglunds), a heavy industrial company.

Even today, successors to these two companies are of great importance for the city. The Finnish-owned Metsä Board runs a former MoDo locale, one of Europe's largest pulp mills, in the village of Husum 30 km north of Örnsköldsvik, Domsjö Fabriker, another ex-MoDo mill), runs a specialty cellulose mill in Örnsköldsvik, while Hägglunds has been split into several companies, including BAE Systems Hägglunds, a subsidiary of BAE Systems. Other notable companies based in Örnsköldsvik include Svensk Etanolkemisv, a producer of ethanol products, and Fjällräven, a manufacturer of wilderness equipment and clothing.

Education
Umeå University has a campus in Örnsköldsvik.

The asteroid 6795 Örnsköldsvik, found in 1993 by Swedish astronomers at the European Southern Observatory, was named after the city.

Transportation
Main road transportation is provided by the European route E4.

Örnsköldsvik Airport provides daily flights to and from Stockholm Arlanda Airport operated by Sveaflyg. The terminal building was recently upgraded to allow for some international services. The runway was extended to allow service for larger aircraft.

Railway transportation is provided by the recently opened Bothnia Line. Completed in August 2010, the Bothnia Line adds 190 km of high-speed railway to the Swedish railway network. At up to 250 km/h this is also the highest-speed track in the country. The route branches off from the Ådalen Line at Höga Kusten Airport just north of Kramfors and goes via Örnsköldsvik to Umeå where it connects to the Umeå-Vännäs line and the Main Line Through Upper Norrland. The railway line has 140 bridges and 25 km of tunnels.

Passenger traffic between Umeå and Örnsköldsvik began in August 2010. The delayed upgrade of the ERTMS signal system on the Ådalen Line meant that traffic south of Örnsköldsvik did not begin until 2012.

There is also a harbor where cargo ships load and unload lumber and other merchandise. Prior to Sweden's joining the European Union, Örnsköldsvik had a direct ferry connection to Vaasa, Finland. This ceased operation after entry into the European Union along with the abolition of tax-exempt trade between the member states. The harbor now rarely sees passenger traffic on any large scale.

Being situated on the European route E4, the city is well connected with bus lines. A coastal line from Haparanda in the north to Stockholm makes regular stops at the bus depot in Örnsköldsvik. A cross-country route to Östersund starts and terminates at Örnsköldsvik bus depot.

Recreation and sports
Due to the hilly surroundings, hiking and exploring the scenery of the High Coast is popular in the area. In the wintertime skiing and ice hockey are both popular. Cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, and ski jumping are practiced in the downtown area. In international sports, the town is also known for having hosted the inaugural Winter Paralympic Games, in 1976. The 2008 European Curling Championships also took place there.

Since Örnsköldsvik is a coastal town, there are also beaches near town, as well as campsites. There is also an indoor water park called Paradisbadet, with one of the longest water slides in Europe.

The main spectator sport in the town is ice hockey, with the local team Modo Hockey back in the SHL, the highest league for ice hockey in Sweden after being promoted for winning The Hockeyallsvenskan playoffs. IF Friska Viljor has been successful in ski jumping and the ski jumping hill Paradiskullen is a local landmark visible from downtown.

The local football teams are not quite as successful, but still popular. On the men's side especially the teams Friska Viljor FC from central Örnsköldsvik and Anundsjö IF from Bredbyn outside of town, and women's Själevads IK. A couple of floorball teams from town have also had some success.

A new golf course, Veckefjärdens Golf Club, to the south of the centre is owned by local celebrity ice hockey player Peter Forsberg.

The islands surrounding the coastal area of Örnsköldsvik are big tourist attractions which can be reached by ferry.

Notable natives
Örnsköldsvik is the birthplace of many world-famous ice hockey players, including Stefan Öhman, Nils Johansson, Per Svartvadet, Peter Forsberg, Markus Näslund, Niklas Sundström, Andreas Salomonsson, Magnus Wernblom, Mattias Timander, Victor Hedman, Tobias Enström, Victor Olofsson and the twins Henrik and Daniel Sedin. The Sedin twins were top players for the Vancouver Canucks along with Markus Näslund. Victor Hedman plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Many stars from hockey's previous generation, including Anders Hedberg, Thomas Gradin, and Anders Kallur were also either Örnsköldsvik natives (Hedberg) and/or played in the town for the Modo Hockey club.

 * Peter Artedi, naturalist and the "father of ichthyology".
 * Mikael Bohman, professional ice hockey goaltender
 * Åsa Domeij, politician and an agronomist by training. She was a member of the Riksdag from 1988 until 1991 and then again from 2002 until 2006.
 * Niklas Edin, skip of the Swedish curling team at the 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022 Winter Olympics winning gold, silver and bronze medals, and a six-time world curling champion.
 * Magdalena Forsberg, cross-country skier and biathlete.
 * Staffan Götestam, actor and musician
 * Tomas Haake and Mårten Hagström, members (drummer and rhythm guitarist) of the technical metal band Meshuggah.
 * Thomas Hammarberg, diplomat and human rights activist.
 * Hans Hedberg, sculptor known for his ceramic fruit.
 * Solveig Hellquist, politician and member of the Swedish Liberal People's Party, member of the Riksdag 2002–2010.
 * Malin Hållberg-Leuf, former competitive figure skater. She is the 2006 Swedish national champion.
 * Sofia Jakobsson, professional football player.
 * Fredrik Lindström, Swedish biathlete.
 * Kristina Lundberg, ice hockey player. She won a silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
 * Malin Moström, former captain of the Swedish women's national football team.
 * Märta Norberg, cross-country skier at the end of the 1940s and beginning of the 1950s.
 * Åke Nordin, inventor, entrepreneur and founder of Fjällräven.
 * Emma Nordin, ice hockey player.
 * Maud Olofsson, former politician who was leader of the Swedish Centre Party from 2001 to 2011, Minister for Enterprise and Energy from 2006 to 2011 and Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2010. She was a member of the Riksdag from 2002 to 2011.
 * Miah Persson, soprano, active internationally and in recordings.
 * Eilert Pilarm, Elvis impersonator. He gained fame when he performed on Morgonpasset in 1992.
 * Frida Östberg, retired football midfielder who played for Umeå IK, Linköpings FC, Chicago Red Stars of the Women's Professional Soccer league, and the Swedish women's national football team.

International relations

Örnsköldsvik is twinned with:
 * 🇫🇮 - Äänekoski, Finland
 * 🇳🇴 - Sigdal, Norway
 * 🇮🇸 - Hveragerði, Iceland
 * 🇩🇰 - Brande, Denmark
 * 🇩🇪 - Tarp, Germany

title: Örnsköldsvik


text:
Ånge

Ånge is a locality and the seat of Ånge Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 2,872 inhabitants in 2010.

Ånge is a railway junction where the northern main line railway (Norra Stambanan) connects with the central main line railway (Mittbanan). Ånge is also known in Sweden as "The Swedish version of Seattle" due to an impressive number of bands. Takida, The Grand Opening and Corroded are among many other bands from this area.

Sport
The following sports clubs are located in Ånge:

 * Ånge IF
 * Ånge IK

Notable people

 * Musical group Takida
 * Musical group The Citadel
 * Musical group The Grand Opening
 * Musical group Corroded
 * Musical group Kill Kill Pussycat!
 * Musical group Blowball
 * Football manager Lars Lagerbäck
 * Ice hockey player Samuel Påhlsson
 * Ice hockey player Elias Pettersson

title: Ånge


text:
Timrå

Timrå is a locality and the seat of Timrå Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 10,443 inhabitants in 2010.

It is located about 13 km north of Sundsvall (a town with a metropolitan area of some 100,000 inhabitants), and could arguably be considered a satellite to that town.

The two closest cities (Sundsvall and Härnösand) share one airport, Midlanda, that is geographically located in Timrå.

Indalsälven, one of Sweden's largest rivers with a length of 430 km, meets the Gulf of Botnia in Timrå.

In Sweden, Timrå is mainly known for its ice hockey club Timrå IK, which, as of season 2023/24 plays in the Swedish top division SHL.

In 1995, Swedish artist Bengt Lindström constructed the Y, a 30 meter high sculpture located in Timrå.

Local legend says that Sörberge, on the north side of the town, is haunted by a tall man wearing a very large coat called 'Stor Bubbas'.

Climate
Timrå has historically had a subarctic climate, but it has in recent decades more resembled a cool-summer humid continental climate.

Notable citizens

 * Lennart "Lillstrimma" Svedberg (1944–1972), ice hockey player
 * Magdalena Forsberg (1967), cross country skier, biathlon
 * Henrik Flyman, guitarist, composer, producer
 * Henrik Forsberg (1967), cross country skier
 * Mats Näslund (1959), ice hockey player
 * Anna Olsson (1964), canoeist
 * Anton Lander (1991), ice hockey player

title: Timrå


text:
Sundsvall

Sundsvall is a city and the seat of Sundsvall Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It has a population of 58,807 as of 2020; more than 95,000 live in the municipal area. It is Sweden's 21st largest city by population. Old town in Sundsvall is known as Stenstan, meaning stone city referencing the stone buildings from the late eighteen hundreds.

History
The town was chartered in 1621, and a first urban plan for Sundsvall was probably created by Olof Bure in 1642, less likely in 1623. It has a port by the Gulf of Bothnia, and is located 395 km north of Stockholm. The city has burned down and been rebuilt four times. The first time, in 1721, it was set on fire by the Russian army during the Russian Pillage of 1719-1721. According to one historian, Swedish industrialism started in Sundsvall when the Tunadal sawmill bought a steam-engine driven saw in 1849. In the early 20th century Sundsvall was an even greater centre of forestry industry in Sweden than it is today. The first large Swedish strike was the "Sundsvall strike" in 1879. The industrial heritage makes social democrat and socialist sympathies more prevalent in the Sundsvall region than in Sweden as a whole.

In 1888 on 25 June, strong wind and dry conditions contributed to two city fires in Sweden on the same day. On this day both Umeå and Sundsvall caught fire. The Sundsvall fire was the largest in Sweden's history. It is presumed that the fire was caused by a spark from a steamship. After the fire, and unlike Umeå, the decision was to rebuild using stone. Sundsvall's centre was later nicknamed Stenstaden (the stone city). One advantage of the new construction was that within three years the town was arguing that it should be allowed reduced insurance as new rules had been brought in that applied to wooden towns. One disadvantage was that after the fire only the better off could afford to live in the centre.

Today Sundsvall is not only dominated by the pulp and paper industry, and the aluminium production but there are also banks, insurance companies, telecommunications administration and a number of large public data-processing centres such as the national social insurance board. The main campus of the Mid Sweden University (Mittuniversitetet) is also located in the city. The university, established in 1993, is a collaboration between Östersund, Sundsvall and Härnösand.

Culture
During 1987–2013, there was a summer music festival called Gatufesten. Starting in 2014 there's a new one called Hamnyran. There are two theatres and various musical venues. There is also a small guitar festival and a larger heavy metal festival every autumn called Nordfest. Sundsvall is also home to the unique festival Musikschlaget, which is a song contest for groups around Sweden with disabilities.

Transport
Its airport is Sundsvall-Timrå Airport, also called Midlanda.

Sport

 * Alnö IF, association football
 * GIF Sundsvall, association football
 * IF Sundsvall Hockey, ice hockey
 * IFK Sundsvall, association football
 * Sundsvalls AIK (sv), wrestling (https://www.sundsvallsaik.se/)
 * Sundsvalls DFF, association football
 * Kovlands IF, multi-sport alliance club
 * Kovlands Ishockeyförening, ice hockey
 * Selånger SK, multi-sport alliance club
 * Selånger FK, association football
 * Selånger SK Bandy, bandy
 * Sidsjö-Böle IF, association football
 * Sund IF, association football
 * Sundsvall Dragons, basketball
 * Sundsvall Flames, American football
 * Njurunda MK, Motocross, Enduro and Trial

Former

 * IBK Sundsvall, floorball (1986–2006)

Notable people

 * Otto Wallin, boxer
 * Garmarna, folk band
 * The Same, punk band
 * Sigrid Hjertén (1885–1948), painter
 * Harry Ahlin (1900–1969), actor
 * Per Arne Collinder (1890–1975), astronomer (born in Sundsvall)
 * Gina Dirawi (1990–), television presenter, host of Melodifestivalen 2012 and 2013
 * Elin Ek (1976–), TV and radio personality (as Grynet), singer
 * Fredrik Ericsson (1975–2010), extreme skier
 * Jessica Falk (1973–), singer-songwriter and musician
 * Anders Abraham Grafström (1790–1870), poet
 * Anders Graneheim (1962–), bodybuilder
 * Stan Hasselgård (1922–1948), musician
 * Bengt Lindström (1925–2008), artist
 * Kjell Lönnå (1936–2022), musician
 * Fredrik Modin (1974–), ice hockey player
 * Max Magnus Norman (1973–), artist
 * Erik Ringmar (1960–), political scientist and author
 * Helen Sjöholm (1970–), singer, actress and musical theater performer
 * Hanna Glas (1993–), football player
 * Carl Strandlund (1899–1974), Swedish-American inventor and entrepreneur
 * Henrik Zetterberg (1980–), ice hockey player
 * Yohio (1995–), singer and guitarist
 * Kevin Walker (1989–) football player and winner of Idol 2013
 * Charlotte Kalla (1987–) cross-country skier
 * Carl-Herman Tillhagen (1906~2002), folklorist
 * Emil Forsberg (1991–), football player
 * Elias Pettersson (1998–), ice hockey player and 2019 Calder Trophy winner
 * MyAnna Buring (1979–), actress (born in Sundsvall)
 * Ursula Wirth (1934–2019), rally driver

Climate
Sundsvall has a climate which is on the border between subarctic (Dfc) and cold humid continental (Dfb), leaning towards the latter in recent years. Temperatures are made significantly milder and regulated by the influence from the Gulf Stream. The weather station is located 20 km to the north and somewhat further inland near Timrå, which renders that Sundsvall's urban centre is likely milder in terms of low temperatures by some degree.

title: Sundsvall


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Kramfors

Kramfors is a locality and the seat of Kramfors Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It had a population of 5,990 inhabitants in 2010.

The town grew on the western bank of the Ångerman river in the 19th century as harvested logs were floated downriver to be processed at local sawmills and pulp mills. Christopher Kramm introduced the river's first steam-driven saw, naming it after himself. The name of the town in turn derives from his name and the word fors ("rapid"). In the 1960s and 1970s, as the timber industry went into decline, the population of Kramfors declined as well.

The original settlement of Kramfors was located in Gudmundrå municipality, but in 1889 received the status of a so-called municipalsamhälle or borough, still remaining part of the original municipality. In 1947 it was awarded city status, one of the last in the country to do so. Since municipal reform in 1974, it serves as the seat of Kramfors Municipality.

The municipality of Kramfors has about 20,000 inhabitants, and is situated almost in the middle of Sweden's east coast in Northern Sweden. Within 100 kilometres from Kramfors there is a population of about 250,000 people, and within 200 kilometres about half a million people, and the large Norrland towns of Sundsvall and Umeå are within commuting distance.

Kramfors is probably best known for its beautiful and varied High Coast landscape, which has been given World Heritage status, and which provides the inhabitants with the opportunity of an outdoors lifestyle.

One of the tennis academies of Sweden is situated in Kramfors.

Kramfors also hosts the Folke Bernadotte Academy, a government agency focused on improving international conflict and crisis management, with a special interest in peace operations. It offers courses in peacekeeping intelligence and information operations that are open to all nations and to non-governmental organizations.

Notable people

 * Sune Bergman (1952–2021), former professional ice hockey player.
 * Einar Blidberg (1906–1993), a Swedish Navy officer.
 * Erika Grahm (born 1991), former professional ice hockey player.
 * Mario Kempe (born 1988), current KHL player for the HC Dinamo Minsk.
 * Adrian Kempe (born 1996), current NHL player for the Los Angeles Kings.
 * Sandra Näslund (born 1996), a freestyle skier.
 * Mattias Norlinder (born 2000), current NHL player for the Montreal Canadiens.
 * Anna Olsson (born 1976), Winter Olympic cross-country skier.
 * Gunnar Östberg (1923–2017), Winter Olympic cross-country skier.
 * Tobias Viklund (born 1986), professional ice hockey player.
 * Magnus Wernblom (born 1973), former professional ice hockey player.

title: Kramfors


text:
Härnösand

Härnösand is a locality and the seat of Härnösand Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 25,012 inhabitants in 2023. It is called "the gate to the High Coast" because of the world heritage landscape just a few miles north of Härnösand. Härnösand is the seat of the Diocese of Härnösand, the County Governor residence and Västernorrland County Museum.

History

On 10 December 1885, Härnösand became the first town in Sweden with electric street lighting, following the Gådeå power station being taken into use.

Education
Härnösand is the seat of The National Agency for Special Needs Education and Schools (Specialpedagogiska skolmyndigheten).

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) operates its training programme Sida Partnership Forum in Härnösand.

Industry
One of the biggest employers in Härnösand is the cable-TV and Cable internet service provider Com Hem.

Sports
The women's team of the bandy club Härnösands AIK plays in the highest division and the men's team has done.

Their handballteam plays in division 2 and is called Brännans IF.

The football club IF Älgarna plays in Division 2 Norrland.

Curling has also been a successful sport in the city, Team Anette Norberg is from here. Anette has taken several medals in the sport, including Olympic gold. It is perhaps therefore not surprising that Sweden's only curling high school is located here. The high school started at 1989 and has since contributed several talented curlers to the world.

Härnösand also has an ice hockey team AIK Hockey Härnösand that plays in division 1 in region norr.

Recreation
Härnösand is a fairly small town and some of the activities young people engage in are Kåken (Ungdomens Hus), a youth centre provided by the municipality. The city also has an extensive selection of outdoor activities in the summer and wintertime. Wintertime people can go skiing (cross country and downhill), ice skating, etc. Summertime activities include climbing, kayaking, trekking, etc. The town also features a summertime beach Smitingen, which occasionally gets some surfable waves. Härnösand is each summer the site of one of the world's largest airsoft events, Berget.

Climate
Härnösand has a humid continental climate (Dfb) with significant maritime influence, causing mild to warm summers and cold but not severe winters that are milder than areas further north. In the Kvarken area and further north the water is less salty and freezes easier, creating colder winter climate.

Notable natives

 * Alfhild Agrell, writer and playwright
 * Anders Jonas Ångström, physicist
 * Albert Atterberg, soil mechanics
 * Dagmar Beling (1929–2023), painter
 * Bo Holmberg, politician
 * Carl Gustaf Nordin, statesman
 * Ulf Sandström, Ice Hockey player
 * Nils Bohlin, inventor
 * Anette Norberg, women's curling Olympic gold medalist
 * Lubbe Nordström, writer/poet
 * Frideborg Winblad, educator and administrator
 * Lena Endre, Actor
 * Lasse Lindh, Musician
 * Håkan Ekström, Forestry Consultant
 * Monica Sjöö, (December 31, 1938 – August 8, 2005), Swedish painter, writer and a radical anarcho/ eco-feminist and an exponent of the Goddess movement.
 * Tomas Fischer, book publisher and businessman
 * Anton Forsberg, ice hockey goaltender for the Ottawa Senators

title: Härnösand


text:
Freestyle (Filipino band)

Freestyle is a pop/R&B band formed in Davao City, Philippines in 1996 currently fronted by Top Suzara since 2022, who returned seventeen years after he initially left in 2005. The band was formed in 1996 and hit the mainstream in 1998, and is popular for the songs "Before I Let You Go", "So Slow", "This Time", "Till I Found You", "Para Sa 'Yo", "Once in a Lifetime", and their rendition of "Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang?" with Pops Fernandez.

The band was originally founded by former guitarist Tat Suzara in Davao City. Notable members of the classic lineup include vocalists Jinky Vidal and Top Suzara, the band's primary songwriter, who left the band in 2011 and 2005 respectively and went on to have solo careers. Post-Freestyle, Vidal and Top Suzara had a reunion concert together in 2013. Other notable members were vocalists Joshua Desiderio, Mike Luis, Ava Santos, and drummer Gerald Banzon who were with the band until Top Suzara returned and took over in 2022.

In mid-2022, after the pre-"Top Suzara-comeback" lineup disbanded, Top Suzara took over and continued the "Freestyle" brand accompanied by his own session musicians. Suzara had his first comeback performance as Freestyle at 19 East in October 2022 in a sold-out gig. Suzara also trademarked "Freestyle" in the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) solely under his name. The IPO ruled that "Freestyle" is synonymous with the name Top Suzara and is deemed the rightful owner.

Current members

 * Christopher "Top" Suzara – vocals/guitar (1997–2005; 2022–present)
 * IJ Garcia – keyboards/vocals/musical director (2022–present)
 * Ian Tan – bass/vocals (2022–present)
 * Francis Manalo – guitar/vocals (2022–present)
 * Lerod Cailao – drums/vocals (2022–present)

Former members

 * Jinky Vidal – vocals (1996–2011)
 * Joshua Desiderio – vocals/keyboards/guitars (2005–2021)
 * Mike Luis – vocals/keyboards (2005–2022)
 * Tat Suzara – lead guitar/backing vocals (1996–2019)
 * Gerald Banzon – drums/percussion (1997–2021)
 * Ava Santos – vocals (2012–2022)
 * Rommel dela Cruz – bass guitar (2005–2019)
 * Bobby Velasco – keyboards/arranger (2018–2022)
 * Joel Guarin – bass guitar (2019–2022)
 * Gino Aguas – lead guitar (2019–2022)
 * Nikki Cabardo – keyboards (2000–2009)
 * Carlo Tapia – bass guitar (1996–2005)
 * Obet Luzon – keyboards (1996–2000)
 * Tzuki Garcia – drums/percussion (1996–1997)
 * Jun Masamayor – keyboards (1996–1997)
 * David Greenbaum – vocals (1996)

 * Additional footnotes:
 * Vocalist Top Suzara is the cousin of lead founding member Tat Suzara.
 * Former Viva Hot Babe Sheree, relative of Jinky Vidal, was once a touring vocalist.
 * Philippine Idol finalist Gail Blanco also guested as a touring vocalist.
 * Filipina Dutch singer Aliya Parcs also once guested as a backing vocalist in some selected shows.
 * Lead founding member Tat Suzara happens to be the ex-husband of another former vocalist, Jinky Vidal. Vidal and Tat got separated and eventually annulled in 2013. Vidal is now in a common-law partnership and has a child with singer/songwriter X Factor finalist Jeric Medina who is 16 years her junior.
 * Session musician Bogs Bautista toured with the band as drummer/percussionist from 2021–2022.
 * Filipino-American singer/performer/educator, Hawaii Stars 1995 finalist, David Greenbaum from San Francisco, CA., performed with Freestyle when the band was based in Davao in 1996.

Collaboration albums

 * Closer to Home (Viva Records, 1999)
 * Closer to Home 2 (Viva Records, 2000)
 * Servant of All Jubilaeum A.D. 2000 (Viva Records, 2000)
 * Tunog Acoustic 1 (Warner Music Philippines, 2003)
 * Acoustic Lokal (Viva Records, 2003)
 * Senti: 18 Pinoy Love Hits (Viva Records & Vicor Music, 2008)
 * Senti Dos (Viva Records & Vicor Music, 2008)
 * Hit Covers (Viva Records & Vicor Music, 2009)
 * Senti 3 (Viva Records & Vicor Music, 2009)
 * Simly Fied (More Than Acoustic) (Viva Records & Vicor Music, 2009)
 * Senti Four: It's Complicated (Viva Records & Vicor Music, 2010)

Live albums

 * Freestyle Live (2000)
 * The Love Concert: The Album (2001)
 * All Hits Live at the Araneta (2003)
 * Live @ 19 East (2006)

DVDs

 * Freestyle Live (2000)
 * The Love Concert: The Album (2001)
 * All Hits Live at the Araneta (2003)
 * Live @ 19 East (2006)

title: Freestyle (Filipino band)


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Antonio Tarver

Antonio Deon Tarver (born November 21, 1968) is an American former professional boxer and boxing commentator. In boxing he competed from 1997 to 2015, and held multiple light heavyweight world championships, including the WBA (Unified), WBC, IBF and Ring magazine titles, as well as the IBO light heavyweight and cruiserweight titles.

As an amateur, Tarver represented the United States at the 1996 Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the light heavyweight division; he eventually lost to Vassiliy Jirov from Kazakhstan, whom he had previously defeated at the 1995 World Championships to win gold. Tarver also triumphed at the 1995 Pan American Games and 1995 U.S. National Championships, winning gold in both. He remains the only boxer in history to have won gold at the Pan Am Games, World Championships and U.S. Nationals all in the same year.

Outside of boxing, Tarver starred as Mason "The Line" Dixon, the heavyweight champion in the 2006 film Rocky Balboa.

Amateur career

 * 1993 and 1995 United States amateur Light Heavyweight champion.
 * 1994 National Golden Gloves Light Heavyweight champion
 * Won the Light Heavyweight bronze medal for the United States at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. His results were:
 * Defeated Dmitry Vybornov (Russia) 5–2
 * Defeated David Kowah (Sierra Leone) RSC 1 (2:43)
 * Defeated Enrique Flores (Puerto Rico) RSC 3 (1:54)
 * Lost to Vassiliy Jirov (Kazakhstan) 9–15

Early years
Tarver made his professional debut at the age of 28 on February 18, 1997, with a second-round knockout of Joaquin Garcia at the legendary "Blue Horizon" in Philadelphia.

Tarver won his first 16 fights, 14 by knockout, before stepping up his level of competition. After taking most of his first 16 fights in either his native Florida or at the "Blue Horizon", for his 11th fight he met veteran Rocky Gannon in Chester, West Virginia, on August 30, 1998. Tarver knocked out Gannon in the second round.

On February 29, 2000, Tarver scored a knockout against Ernest M-16 Mateen in Las Vegas. Later that year, Tarver suffered his first loss when he was knocked down in the 11th round by Eric Harding, en route to a unanimous decision on June 23 in Biloxi, Mississippi. This was an IBF title elimination bout, where the winner would face Roy Jones Jr.

In 2002, Tarver defeated former two-weight world champion Reggie Johnson by split decision to win the NABF & USBA light-heavyweight titles, and a guaranteed title shot at Roy Jones. He then scored a fifth round stoppage over Harding in a rematch that was on the undercard of the rematch between Shane Mosely and Vernon Forrest. Tarver was trailing on the scorecards until the 4th round, when he sent Harding to the canvas with a barrage of unanswered power shots; Harding was also floored twice in the 5th round, leading to the stoppage.

Unified light heavyweight champion
On April 26, 2003, Tarver received his first world title shot, when he faced former WBC champion Montel Griffin for the WBC & IBF light-heavyweight titles that had been vacated by Roy Jones Jr., who had gone on to defeat John Ruiz for the WBA heavyweight title the previous month. After dropping Griffin in the first and last rounds, Tarver was crowned champion after winning a unanimous decision.

Tarver vs. Jones I, II
Next, rather than remain at heavyweight, Jones planned to return to light-heavyweight and regain his belts. Given little chance of winning, Tarver took a weight-drained Jones the distance and lost the fight and WBC title by a majority decision on November 8, 2003, in Las Vegas (Tarver had relinquished the IBF title a few days earlier in anticipation of being unable to make a mandatory defense.)

In a rematch on May 15, 2004, in Las Vegas, Tarver upset the odds to regain the WBC title and win the WBA (Super) title by knocking Jones out in the second round. In fifty previous fights, Jones had only been sent to the floor once, leaving most observers shocked at the result.

Rise in popularity
Tarver became a mainstream celebrity after his rematch win over Jones, making appearances at late-night shows, appearing on the cover of both Ring and KO Magazine, being spotted by television cameras as a spectator at various boxing fights, and co-hosting ESPN's "Friday Night Fights" for one telecast.

Tarver vs. Johnson I, II
Later in 2004, the WBC decided to strip Tarver of the world title after he decided against fighting their mandatory challenger, instead choosing to fight IBF title holder Glen Johnson December 18 in Temecula, California; Tarver had already been removed as Super Champion by the WBA in their July rankings. Johnson himself had been stripped of his IBF title before the bout with Tarver for not fighting his mandatory challenger. Both fighters were celebrated for their decision to fight each other rather than bow to the pressure from what has become known as "The Alphabet Soup" sanctioning bodies (WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF).

Tarver, considered a favorite to win the fight, suffered an upset loss to Johnson by way of a split decision in a fight that he did not appear to be in top shape for. Tarver avenged the loss six months later with a unanimous decision, out-boxing and out-working the aggressive Johnson at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee to regain The Ring championship.

Tarver vs. Jones III
In their third fight, Tarver won a unanimous decision over Roy Jones Jr. on October 1, 2005, in Tampa, Florida, almost knocking Jones down in the 11th round but also finding himself in trouble at times during the fight.

Tarver vs. Hopkins
On June 10, 2006, Tarver faced former undisputed world middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins for Tarver's The Ring title at The Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Hopkins, a 3-to-1 underdog, dominated the fight, outboxing Tarver to win a unanimous decision. The fight was scored 118–109 by all three judges. Tarver was knocked down in the 5th round. Tarver's record would now stand at 24 wins and 4 losses, with 18 wins coming by way of knockout.

Return to the ring
Tarver returned to the ring nearly one year after his loss to Hopkins, defeating Albanian-fighter Elvir Muriqi on June 9, 2007, by way of a majority decision. In his next fight, held at Foxwoods Resort Casino on December 1, 2007, Tarver registered a win over Danny Santiago by way of a 4th round TKO.

Tarver then regained the IBF title by outpointing Clinton Woods.

Tarver vs. Dawson I, II
On October 11, 2008, Tarver faced rising star Chad Dawson for Tarver's IBF title. The fight took place at Palms Casino in Las Vegas. Tarver lost the fight via unanimous decision, with wide margins of 118–109 and 117–110 (twice). The outcome was not disputed.

With the loss to Dawson, it was speculated that Tarver may choose to retire; however, he later announced that he and Dawson would meet in a rematch in March 2009.

A rematch with Dawson, originally announced for March 14, 2009, had to be postponed due to an injury suffered by Dawson. Finally, on May 9, the two fighters met at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas. Tarver, who came to the fight as a 5:1 underdog, again lost by unanimous decision.

Move up to heavyweight
Following the rematch loss to Dawson, Tarver took over a year off from the ring, before returning on 15 October 2010 to defeat Nagy Aguilera by 10 round unanimous decision in a bout that took place in the heavyweight division. For this fight Tarver officially weighed 221 lbs, some 46 lbs more than he had weighed for the Dawson rematch.

Cruiserweight
On 20 July 2011, Tarver took on Australian IBO cruiserweight champion Danny Green at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in Tarver's debut in the 200 lb cruiserweight division.

Tarver dominated the fight, knocking Green down in the second round and controlling the majority of the action from there on in. After taking heavy punishment and being saved by the bell at the end of round 9, Green failed to come out for the start of round 10, allowing Tarver to take the victory and the title by TKO.

Return
On February 25, 2021, it was announced that Tarver would be returning to the ring for the first time since 2015. He was signed to face former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir in Mir's boxing debut on April 17 on the undercard of Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren. Tarver intended to represent mental health advocacy and has said he would dedicate the bout with Mir to all survivors or victims of mental health disorders. However, On March 23, it was announced that Tarver had withdrawn from the bout after not being cleared by the Georgia Athletic & Entertainment Commission. He was replaced by former IBF cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham.

Rocky Balboa
Tarver starred as heavyweight champion Mason "The Line" Dixon in the 2006 film Rocky Balboa. In the film the current, unpopular, champion Dixon fights former champion Rocky Balboa, who decides to come out of retirement. Dixon wins the match by split decision, and after breaking his hand in the second round of the bout but still managing to stand toe to toe with Rocky for the full 10 rounds, proves to doubters that he has the heart of a champion. The DVD of the movie offers an alternate ending, in which Rocky wins the split decision. Dixon's record before the fight is 33-0 (30 KO). Also on the DVD, the film's writer and director Sylvester Stallone wanted to cast a real boxer in the role of Dixon, as he thought it would be easier to teach a boxer how to act than to teach an actor how to box convincingly. Tarver is one of only three fighters to actually defeat "Rocky Balboa" in film.

Commentating with Showtime
After his loss to Dawson in June 2009, Tarver served as a boxing analyst for Showtime Championship Boxing.

title: Antonio Tarver


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CERGA Observatory

The CERGA Observatory (Centre de recherches en géodynamique et astrométrie; obs. code: 010) was a scientific department and astronomical station of the Côte d'Azur Observatory in southern France, where several asteroids were discovered during 1984–1993.

Description
CERGA included 28 researchers and as many engineers and technicians located on the Observatory sites of Nice, Grasse and Calern (Caussols). The scientific activities covered fields as diverse as fundamental astronomy, celestial mechanics, and space geodesy. CERGA was in charge of several observing facilities of the Lunar Laser Ranging experiment, for example, the lunar-laser ranging telescope and the two satellite laser stations.

By nature the scientific activity involved the acquisition of data and their processing, a dedicated instrumental development and a close relationship with the more theoretical aspects in dynamics and observation modelling.

CERGA was dissolved in 2004 when the parent Côte d'Azur Observatory re-organized. The main-belt asteroid 2252 CERGA was named for the observatory, where this asteroid was discovered by Kōichirō Tomita.

List of discovered minor planets
The Minor Planet Center directly credits the CERGA observatory with the discovery of 21 asteroids made during 1984–1993. The discoveries were made using the observatory's 0.9-meter Schmidt telescope.

title: CERGA Observatory


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İske Qazan

İske Qazan (literally: Old Kazan; Cyrillic: Иске Казан), was a Bolghar-Tatar city in the 13-16th centuries, situated on the banks of the Kazanka River in the Kazan artı or Zakazanye region, in what is today the Russian Federation republic of Tatarstan.

In 18th century Tatar literature, İske Kazan was said to have been founded by the brothers Altınbäk and Ğälimbäk during Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria.

In the 13-14th centuries the city was one of the political and economic centres of Kazan artı. After raids by Russian armies in 1376 and 1399, the city's importance declined. In 1535, the exiled king Canğäli khan lived in the city, where he probably died. In 1552 İske Kazan was ruined by Russian troops.

Today the Urıs Urmatı and Qamay ruins are the ruins of İske Kazan.

title: İske Qazan