After reports emerged yesterday of problems on the 11 July flight of Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (NYSE:SPCE) rocket-plane, the US regulator has temporarily grounded the craft.
The US Federal Aviation Administration said Virgin Galactic’s test flights will be suspended while an investigation into July’s flight is conducted.
"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 FAA said.
Yesterday, the New Yorker magazine reported that there were red warning lights during the flight of the VSS Unity, a flight that included British self-publicist Richard Branson on its passenger list.
Two warning lights flashed throughout the flight, according to the New Yorker.
After a minute or so of flight, there was a yellow warning light that indicated the rocket plane was veering off its designated course and outside of its proscribed airspace shortly after it took off.
On re-entry, there was a red light signifying an “entry glide cone warning”. Nicholas Schmidle, the writer of the New York report, said the pilots would have had to react immediately to the red warning light to adjust their trajectory or cut the rocket motor.
The FAA’s ban has not stopped Virgin from announcing the “Unity 23” mission, which will be the 23rd flight for VSS Unity.
The goal of the mission is to evaluate and measure the effects of the transitional phase from gravity to microgravity on the human body.
Virgin Galactic is targeting a flight later this month or early next month, depending on how the FAA investigation goes and what the weather is like.