Our next stop was a rather unique one. Today’s article is on Carrick-a-Rede. And although it may not look like much from the picture above, take note thin structure connecting that small island to the coast. That is the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, which supplies access to the island of Carrickarede:
Two brave souls crossing Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge
Carrick-a-Rede was for us just a brief stop to our ultimate goal this tour, which you’ll see over the next two weeks beginning on Monday. So, I’ll just keep you in suspense until then. Meanwhile, let’s today soak up the views from this site. Fun Photo Friday will present favorites from here and Carrickfergus.
Our next port of call aboardBrilliance of the Seas was Belfast, which I’ve already covered from our previous visit just six days prior. So on this trip to Belfast, Ursula had us scheduled for yet another tour. Our first stop: Carrickfergus in County Antrim. So sit back as we take in the sights, beginning with King William III (a.k.a., William of Orange), and continuing on to Carrickfergus Castle:
Carrickfergus Castle
Carrickfergus Castle is a Norman castle built by Sir John de Courcy, and it dates all the way back to 1177. Here you can see a Red Coat guarding the castle from a 1778 raid conducted by Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones:
The Red Coats fighting off John Paul Jones
Another view of Carrickfergus Castle before we move on to the town of Carrickfergus:
Carrickfergus Castle
Alas, we didn’t get to see much of Carrickfergus itself, as we had other destinations for this day. Here are a couple of views, however:
With Sir Richard Branson’s latest triumph earlier today, I thought it a good time to rerun this goldie oldie from 15 October 2014. The following article is my encounter with the Mothership used in today’s successful launch of Unity 22:
Something you don’t see every day — WhiteKnightTwo
On September 11 of this year we had a visitor come to El Paso International Airport. What you see above is WhiteKnightTwo, the launch vehicle for Virgin Galactic’s suborbital tourist thrill ride SpaceShipTwo.
SpaceShip 2 (center) suspended for a ride aloft on WhiteKnightTwo — Launch altitude 50,000 feet/15,240 meters; Upper diagram is of WhiteKnightOne and SpaceShipOne
Fortunately I was at work that day, and doubly fortunately Ursula was able to snatch a couple of my cameras and bring them out to the control tower. Triply fortunately, the wonderful folks at Atlantic Aviation were gracious enough to escort both Ursula and me out onto the ramp so that I could take the photographs you see here today as well as some of my favorite shots of this encounter on this week’s Fun Photo Friday.
WhiteKnightTwo taxiing out for departure
All in all I managed to snag some 50 photographs, including those I later stitched together for a couple of detailed panoramas. Of course, I couldn’t just waste all that ramp time photographing just one aircraft, so I diversified a bit.
Beech King Air 200
The FAA registry number for this wondrous aircraft is N348MS (MS standing for “Mother Ship), and WhiteKnightTwo has been christened VMS Eve — Virgin Mother Ship “Eve” named after Virgin Galactic owner Richard Branson’s mother. The second WhiteKnightTwo in the series will be christened VMS Steve Fossett after the famous aviator.
VMS Eve is larger than she appears:
Crew: 2 pilots, 6 passengers/launch crew
Capacity: payload 37,000 lb/16,783 kilos
Length: 78 ft 9 in/24 meters
Wingspan: 141 ft 1 in/43 meters
Powerplant: Four Pratt & Whitney PW308 turbofans each rated at 6,900 lbs/30.69 kN thrust
Launch Altitude: 50,000 ft/15,240 meters
Service ceiling: 70,000 ft/21,336 meters (service ceiling is defined as the maximum useable altitude of an aircraft)
Coincidentally, that 141-foot wingspan almost precisely matches that of another famous mother ship — The Boeing B-29 Superfortress that served as the launch vehicle for Chuck Yeager and the Bell X-1 rocket plane that first broke the sound barrier exactly 67 years ago yesterday, on October 14, 1947.
Boeing B-29 acting as mother ship to Chuck Yeager and the Bell X-1 Rocket Plane
But let’s get down to today’s gallery. Enjoy, and remember to click on any of the images below to bring up today’s slide show.
Decisions — Murder in Paradise
The Globe — Murder in Luxury
R. Doug Wicker — Author 