Tag: Virgin Galactic

  • Virgin Galactic in transition one year after fatal accident

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    Virgin Galactic’s second SpaceShipTwo vehicle goes “weight on wheels” in Mojave in May. Credit: Virgin Galactic Last year’s fatal crash of Virgin Galactic’s suborbital rocket plane has delayed the start of the company’s commercial operations at least a year, prompting a change in mindset from a “period of euphoria to a period of real, measurable,…

  • Virgin Galactic’s LauncherOne to utilize a dedicated aircraft

    Virgin Galactic’s LauncherOne to utilize a dedicated aircraft

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    Due to customer demand, Virgin Galactic claims it has nearly doubled the amount of payload that customers can deliver to orbit on its LauncherOne system – ranging from 200 kg into the standard Sun-Synchronous Orbit, or 400kg to LEO – for less than $10m. The company claims it is now in the process of acquiring…

  • Video shows SpaceShipTwo just before fatal crash

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    A video released by the National Transportation Safety Board shows the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane drop from its carrier aircraft, ignite its motor, and prematurely engage its braking system just before disintegrating high above California’s Mojave Desert last October. Investigators concluded Tuesday the cause of the crash, which killed co-pilot Michael Alsbury and injured pilot Peter…

  • NTSB’s SpaceShipTwo findings put more pressure on FAA in commercial space

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    A video screengrab shows SpaceShipTwo’s wings in their “feathered” position moments before the rocket plane’s breakup on Oct. 31, 2014. (Credit: Virgin Galactic / NTSB) The recommendations coming out of a federal investigation of last October’s fatal SpaceShipTwo breakup are likely to add to the challenges facing the commercial spaceflight industry – but they could also provide…

  • NTSB issues findings in Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo tragedy

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    Todd Ericson, who is Virgin Galactic’s vice president of safety and test as well as a test pilot, meets with Acting NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart and other investigators at the SpaceShipTwo crash site last November. Hart is second from left, Ericson is third from left. Credit: NTSB Pilot error, an in-flight braking system that wasn’t…

  • SpaceShipTwo mishap due to pilot error and company training oversight

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    STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION NTSB investigators survey wreckage from SpaceShipTwo following the crash in October 2014. Credit: NTSB The fatal in-flight breakup of Virgin Galactic’s futuristic SpaceShipTwo rocket plane during a test flight last October was the result of pilot error, possibly triggered by a high workload, unfamiliar vibration and rapid acceleration,…

  • OneWeb launch deal called largest commercial rocket buy in history

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    File photo of a Soyuz launch from French Guiana. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Optique Video du CSG – S. Martin Backed by a fresh capital infusion and regulatory rights to a valued slice of satellite communications spectrum, the space-based Internet company OneWeb has contracted with Arianespace and Virgin Galactic to deploy hundreds of refrigerator-sized spacecraft around…

  • Virgin Galactic planning SpaceShipTwo’s return to flight

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    A second SpaceShipTwo rocket plane is under construction in Mojave, Calif. Credit: Virgin Galactic Less than 10 weeks after a fatal crash that destroyed a suborbital rocket plane and raised questions about the future Virgin Galactic, the company’s chief executive says engineers are developing a test program for a replacement spaceship expected to fly later…

  • NTSB provides timeline of SpaceShipTwo mishap

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    NTSB investigators visit Virgin Galactic’s hangar in Mojave, Calif. Credit: NTSB Just 13 seconds after Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo began a rocket-powered test flight last Friday — and just five seconds after its innovative aero-braking system was inadvertently deployed at supersonic speeds — the spaceplane apparently broke up, killing one pilot and injuring another, according to…

  • Virgin Galactic rocket plane deployed braking system prematurely

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    NTSB acting chairman Christopher Hart describes SpaceShipTwo’s feathering system in a media briefing Sunday. Credit: NTSB Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane disintegrated in mid-air after two tail stabilizers prematurely extended, federal investigators said Sunday, a discovery that could shift the focus of the probe into Friday’s fatal crash away from the craft’s rocket motor. But…