Virgin Galactic spacecraft grounded after serious incidents were revealed during j’s flight – franceinfo

Difficult return to Earth for Virgin Galactic: two months after having taken its flamboyant founder, Richard Branson, to space, the iconic company vessel finds itself grounded in the face of the revelation of serious incidents during the flight of the 11 July. The United States Aviation Agency (FAA) announced Thursday, September 2, to investigate a deviation of the course during this highly publicized flight, which was supposed to mark the company’s entry into the era. space tourism.

Richard Branson was the first billionaire to make it to space aboard a private company ship that he himself started – before Jeff Bezos a few days later. But while Virgin Galactic at the time assured that everything had gone according to plan, the spacecraft actually flew briefly outside the airspace dedicated to the mission.

“Virgin Galactic will not be able to revive its SpaceShipTwo ship until the FAA approves the final investigation report or determines that the issues related to the incident do not affect public safety.”, the US agency said in a statement to AFP. “SpaceShipTwo deviated from air traffic control clearance by returning to Spaceport America”, the space base used by the company in the New Mexico desert, she said.

This development comes after the publication on Wednesday of an article in the New Yorker (in English) revealing that security alerts were activated in the ship’s cockpit during the flight, synonymous with a serious problem that could have resulted in a fatal outcome. The trajectory problem threatened to compromise the return phase to Earth, when the ship hovers until it lands on a runway, according to the newspaper. In a statement ahead of the FAA’s announcement, Virgin Galactic strongly contested the findings of the article.