FAA grounds space flights by Virgin Galactic after space flight ‘mishap’
- BySheetal Sidhu | September 4, 2021
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday said it was grounding space flights by Virgin Galactic while it investigates why the company’s July mission carrying Richard Branson deviated from its planned trajectory. The move represents a blow to the space tourism firm as it prepares to carry paying customers following its first fully-crewed test flight. “The FAA is overseeing the Virgin Galactic investigation of its July 11 SpaceShipTwo mishap that occurred over Spaceport America, New Mexico,” the agency said in a short statement.
Virgin Galactic may not return the SpaceShipTwo vehicle to flight until the FAA approves the final mishap investigation report or determines the issues related to the mishap do not affect public safety,” it added. The company responded with a statement saying: “We take this seriously and are currently addressing the causes of the issue and determining how to prevent this from occurring on future missions.” It added it was working closely with the FAA “to support a thorough review and timely resolution of this issue.” The FAA’s decision came after a report by the New Yorker said the flight experienced cockpit warnings about its rocket-powered ascent that could have jeopardized the mission.
“According to multiple sources in the company, the safest way to respond to the warning would have been to abort,” Schmidle wrote — though Virgin has disputed this. Aborting would have dashed flamboyant billionaire Branson’s hopes of beating rival Jeff Bezos, whose own flight to space was scheduled a few days later. “Our pilots responded appropriately to these changing flight conditions exactly as they have been trained and in strict accordance with our established procedures.” The company acknowledged the flight had “dropped below its permitted altitude” for one minute and 43 seconds, but stressed: “At no time did the ship travel above any population centers or cause a hazard to the public.” Virgin Galactic has had close calls and accidents in the past — most notably in 2014 when a crash killed one pilot and injured another.
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