from the research-or-bragging-rights? dept.
FAA Grounds SpaceShipTwo After Problem on July Flight - SpaceNews
FAA grounds SpaceShipTwo after problem on July flight - SpaceNews:
LOMPOC, Calif. — The Federal Aviation Administration will not allow Virgin Galactic to resume flights of its SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane until it completes an investigation into a problem on the vehicle's previous flight in July.
In a Sept. 2 statement, the FAA said it is overseeing a Virgin Galactic mishap investigation into the July 11 flight of SpaceShipTwo, called "Unity 22" by the company, which appeared to go as planned but in fact suffered a problem that caused it to stray from its restricted airspace.
"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," the agency stated.
The statement came a day after the publication of an article by The New Yorker that revealed that the two SpaceShipTwo pilots ignored an "entry glide cone warning" during the July 11 flight from Spaceport America in New Mexico. The flight took them and four others on board, including Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson, to the edge of space and back with no indication at the time of any problems.
That warning indicated that the vehicle was outside the volume of space known as the glide cone where it had enough energy to glide back to a runway landing at the spaceport. The warning appeared late in the powered portion of the flight, indicating that the vehicle was not climbing steeply enough.
Company sources cited in the article said that, in the event of such a warning, SpaceShipTwo's hybrid rocket motor should have been shut down, aborting the flight. Instead, the pilots, David Mackay and Mike Masucci, let the motor fire for the full duration. An abort could have prevented SpaceShipTwo from reaching the 80-kilometer altitude that the company defines as space, thwarting Branson's bid to get to space before Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos did so on his company's New Shepard suborbital vehicle July 20.
US Grounds Virgin Galactic After Space Flight 'Mishap'
US grounds Virgin Galactic after space flight 'mishap':
[...] The move represents a blow to the space tourism firm as it prepares to carry paying customers following its first fully-crewed test flight.
It is unclear whether the next test flight, involving members of the Italian Air Force, will take place as scheduled in late September or early October.
"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 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.
The pilots did not abort and instead attempted to correct for the trajectory problem, now flying at Mach 3 with a red light on.
The vessel went on to reach 85 kilometers (52 miles) in altitude—above the US definition of space—and landed safely, but data retrieved from FlightRadar24 showed it had flown outside its designated path.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday September 03 2021, @05:56PM (3 children)
Firefly’s Alpha rocket detonated by Space Force during first launch [theverge.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday September 03 2021, @06:01PM
It took SpaceX a few times to get it right.
I hope they keep trying.
Why is it so difficult to break a heroine addiction?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday September 03 2021, @06:13PM (1 child)
So, where was Space Force when Branson and Bezos were doing their stunt flights?
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday September 03 2021, @06:26PM
The finger was hovering over the button.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday September 03 2021, @06:04PM (1 child)
So do I get this right? SpaceShipTwo is piloted by a human pilot. Not avionics. So Virgin Galactic missions, and any payloads not to mention crew, are in the sweaty hands of a human pilot.
Why is it so difficult to break a heroine addiction?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 03 2021, @09:18PM
SpaceShipTwo does have instruments and a flight computer, that is what the red warning light was from, but the flight controls are entirely manual. That such a major deficiency remains after so long is why I don't think it will ever reach orbit. No orbital class vehicle has ever launched under manual control, and for very good reasons. The Shuttle required a human pilot because it couldn't land on its own, but even there launch and reentry were automated.