Virgin Galactic terminated its third attempt to hit the edge of space on Saturday, after the engine of its spaceplane ignited for around a second and then departed. The aircraft then darted conveniently back to the runway where it was confirmed that the crew was in excellent health.
It was the first test of the company's temporary home at Spaceport America. The company plans to launch space tourists regularly beginning next year from the futuristic, taxpayer-funded mirage of a house in the desert of New Mexico.
Established by Richard Branson in an attempt to open space to the public, a good flight would have taken the business a lot closer to traveling the founder himself to the end of space. It was preceded by the line of people who charged as much as $250,000 for the opportunity to travel on a suborbital mission.
Early update on flight: The ignition sequence for the rocket motor did not complete. Vehicle and crew are in great shape. We have several motors ready at Spaceport America. We will check the vehicle and be back to flight soon.
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) December 12, 2020
A follow-up comment from the newly appointed CEO of Virgin Galactic, Michael Colglazier said the onboard device controlling the rocket engine lost connection" of VSS Unity. Colglazier said the situation caused a fail-safe scenario that deliberately prevented the rocket engine activation. He added that Virgin Galactic would study the details obtained during the flight and set a "near future." re-do target date for the test flight.
How the failure would look like
Virgin Galactic uses a novel path, rather than operating a conventional rocket that rockets vertically from a launchpad. A space plane, classified as SpaceShipTwo, which is attached to the belly of a mother ship's twin-fuselage, flies. The pair took off from the runway at Spaceport America on Saturday at around 8:24 a.m. Mountain time and flew to around 40,000 feet of height. The spacecraft departed and ignited about 45 minutes after its takeoff. A blinding flash came in, but then it went out and the crew returned immediately. But in a video sent to NASASpaceflight, a space-focused publication, the engine seemed to flicker on for just a fleeting moment before powering off. The aircraft then glided to a landing back at the spaceport, flight monitoring software shows.
Some photos from today's aborted @VirginGalactic launch. Glad everyone is ok. This is what testing is for. @NASASpaceflight pic.twitter.com/o4dG3JKHoe
— Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer) December 12, 2020
Onboard were two pilots. Scottish-born pilot Dave Mackay worked with the Royal Air Force, and former Officer of the Marine Corps and a NASA astronaut C.J. Sturckow who flew four space shuttle flights.
In a flight that represented the first space flight from U.S. soil before the space shuttle retired in 2011, Virgin Galactic first entered space nearly two years ago. Chief Astronaut Coach Beth Moses and two other pilots entered the space again in February 2019.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the organization does not enter orbit, but just goes straight up and down, reaching a height of more than 50 miles or where the threshold of space begins.
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