A report from the magazine ‘The New Yorker’ was advancing a few days ago that during the flight of Virgin Galactic that transported the Billionaire Richard Branson into space in July, several safety alerts were lit in the cabin.
And the US Aviation Agency (FAA) has confirmed this Thursday to the AFP that investigates the details of this flight: the aircraft deviated from its trajectory and therefore from the airspace dedicated to the mission.
However, Virgin Galactic had insured at that time that the flight had developed as planned.
“During the flight of July 11, 2021, the aircraft of Virgin Galactic SpaceShiptwo deviated from its air traffic control authorization while returning to Spaceport America,” the spatial base used by the company in the State of State of New Mexico,
The FAA has pointed out.
Research on this irregularity is “ongoing”, according to the agency.
This confirmation comes after the publication of an article in ‘The New Yorker’ that reveals the incident.
The problem in the trajectory threatened to compromise the return phase to the Earth, when the spacecraft VSS Unity, in which, in addition to the two pilots, traveled Branson and three other passengers, ended up floating until landing on a New Mexico track.
According to the same publication, a red light was lit which indicates a serious problem that could have had a fatal outcome.
The aircraft had exceeded 80 km of altitude, the point established in the United States for the spatial border, allowing passengers to get rid of their seats and float for a few minutes in weightlessness.
Citing anonymous sources within the company founded by Branson, the magazine specified that the safer way to react to these alerts would have been interrupting the mission.
A ruling would have greatly damaged the image of Virgin Galactic, who had invited the whole press and many prestigious spectators – among them the Magnate Elon Musk, owner of the Tesla and Aerospace SpaceX manufacturer – to this live broadcast.
Branson, 70, beat the founder of the Giant Amazon, Jeff Bezos, and his Blue Origin company in a space race among multimillionaires.
