Theft incident in July | The Virgin Galaxy spacecraft has been grounded by US authorities

(Washington) After the July victory, the Virgin Galactic made it difficult to return to Earth: two months after its glamorous founder Richard Branson was taken into space, the iconic company ship came to a halt before revealing something serious. Incident on the plane.

Lucy Auberg
France Media Agency

The United States Aviation Agency (FAA) has announced that it is considering a deviation from the trajectory of this highly popular aircraft to mark the company’s entry into the space tourism era.

According to a survey by New Yorker, A red light shines in the cockpit, indicating a very serious problem, which can lead to a fatal outcome.

Richard Branson was the first billionaire to go into space on a private company spaceship he created on July 11 – just days before Jeff Bezos.

While the Virgin Galactic assured that everything was going according to plan at the time, the spacecraft actually flew briefly out of the air dedicated to the mission.

“The Virgin Galactic will not fly on its SpaceShipTwo aircraft until the FAA approves the final investigation report or confirms that issues related to the incident do not affect public safety,” the agency said. American in a statement sent to AFP.

“SpaceShipTwo pulled out of its air traffic control clearance by returning to Spaceport America,” the space base used by the company in the New Mexico desert, she said.

Virgin Galactic responded by “reviewing a short period of time below the allowable height to work in partnership with the FAA”.

The company is asked to take the issue “seriously” and identify “how to prevent this from happening again in future missions”.

Orange light, then red

The development came after a magazine article was published on Wednesday. New Yorker Revealed that security alerts were activated during the flight.

The trajectory problem threatened to be compromised during the return to Earth, when the spacecraft hovered until it landed on the runway, New Yorker.

In order to land successfully, the craft must begin its descent to the top of an imaginary “cone”. By not flying enough during the ascent, he may not be able to accumulate enough energy to reach his destination.

Citing anonymous sources in the company, The New Yorker He said the safest way to respond to these warnings was to stop the mission.

However, despite these lights, first orange and then red, the two pilots on board decided to continue the flight. The landing was finally gone without any trouble.

The ship was carrying Richard Branson and two pilots, as well as three other passengers working for the company.

Prestigious guests – including SpaceX founder Elon Musk – as well as all the press were invited to the event, which went live on the Internet.

The company said no one was in danger

In a statement prior to the FAA announcement, the Virgin Galactic article strongly contested the findings New Yorker.

There is no risk of extinction of people or crew, Virgin Galactic argues.

“Although the last route deviated from our original plan, it was a deliberate and controlled flight route.”

The Virgin Galaxy Ship is not a “standard” rocket launching vertically. The company uses a heavy carrier aircraft that takes off from the conventional runway and then launches a large private jet-like spacecraft (SpaceShipTwo).

Was the next mission threatened?

It fires its engine at an altitude of 80 kilometers – according to the American military, beyond the space limit.

Passengers can split up and experiment for a few minutes at zero gravity.

The flight ban is a blow to the Virgin Galactic until further notice, which confirmed on Thursday that it was operating a new test flight “in late September or early October”.

This flight, which we do not know now whether this will happen according to the announced schedule, must be dedicated to scientific research in partnership with Italian Aviation.

Group stock that fell abruptly after the FAA announcement lost nearly 3% by the close of trading.