How is this wing configuration going to play out in atmospheric flight? Do we anticipate the ship will be able to operate in atmosphere in both configurations [wings out and wings up]?

I don't see why it wouldn't be able to. One of them will be better than the other, but it's not going to be like some ships where you are forced into having to do it one style because of other knock-ons. The landing gear isn't tied to the wing shape at all, to my knowledge. This all comes out of the body, so it doesn't matter what you do with the wings. It's purely going to be affecting the drag simulation. And as we're finding with the Reliant now, the Reliant's a different case because it has the thrusters on the movable part. So that does change from being very yaw happy to very pitch happy, depending on what flight state you're in. That's nothing to do with the orientation of the wing, and the drag from it is purely from the thrusters, which this doesn't have. So yes, it will have some impact, but no, it shouldn't be to the point where, if you look at it, you think you can only be flying around in a left or right hand circle in atmosphere.

Right, and if it can successfully maneuver enough in atmosphere to land in both wing configurations, I'm going to guess that if those wings get destroyed, you're not completely SOL either.

Yeah, there's no thrusters on there. They can get ripped off and you're [fine].