CORRECTED-Virgin Galactic has sent out emails this week to more than 700 individuals who have signed up to pay $250,000 for the luxury of being the first civilians in space. The letter details the results and investigators findings of the October 31 crash.
Several of my wealthy friends who bought the six figure seats to be on the very first flight (along with actor Leonardo DiCaprio), were privately informed that the end of 2017 is the possible planned SpaceShipTwo launch date. (Virgin says however that this is an internal milestone and not the official date.) Many of the future astronauts will begin training with Virgin three days in advance for the experience.
The accident was a huge setback to the exciting momentum of Virgin Galactic, founded by billionaire Sir Richard Branson in 2004. SpaceShipTwo is designed to carry two pilots and six passengers on elite space trips for $250,000 per seat. Virgin Galactic had taken more than 700 reservations prior to the accident and was forced to reimburse or credit many of those buyers. Now, Virgin Galactic has completed its second SpaceShipTwo vehicle and is ready for new test flights in 2016.
George Whitesides, Virgin Galactic CEO called the Oct. 31, 2014 crash of a SpaceShipTwo test “the toughest thing that our business could undergo.”
The space plane fell out of control 13 seconds after dropping from a giant carrier jet over California’s Mojave Desert. Its hybrid rocket motor, burning a mixture of solid propellant and nitrous oxide, fired at an altitude of about 50,000 feet to begin SpaceShipTwo’s first test flight since January 2014.
Moments later, co-pilot Michael Alsbury unlocked the spacecraft’s aerodynamic braking system earlier than designed, according to the newly released National Transportation Safety Board investigation.
The rocket plane almost immediately broke apart once its tail feathering braking fins — already unlocked — extended without receiving a command to do so from the pilots.
The Spaceship Company, a subsidiary of Virgin Galactic, took over construction follow-on SpaceShipTwo vehicles. The next in line is now complete and in the company’s hangar in Mojave, Calif.
Construction of the second SpaceShipTwo vehicle started before the Oct. 31 accident and engineers have worked diligently with NTSB investigators to determine what changes were required once they learned the cause of the crash.
“Our team has organized the final steps of the build schedule to accommodate any findings from the NTSB investigation, and we’re committed to making any modifications or improvements that we feel are necessary to improve the safety of the vehicle,” Whitesides said.
Virgin Galactic will now manage SpaceShipTwo test flights when the space plane returns to the sky in 2016, according to Whitesides.
The company’s test pilots includes former space shuttle commander Rick Sturckow, and Mike Moses — a former NASA manager who chaired the space shuttle’s mission management team — is Virgin Galactic’s vice president of operations.
Whitesides said the test team is also staffed by experienced military test pilots.
Todd Ericson, former chief of safety at the U.S. Air Force Test Center, leads Virgin Galactic’s flight test team.
“These experienced flight test professionals are now planning the test program for the second spaceship,” Whitesides said. “That test program will not be the same as the test program for the first spaceship, as we will be able to take lessons of the flight test program for that first vehicle and apply them to the second.”
The Oct. 31 accident was a reminder of the risks of flying space vehicles, Whitesides said, adding that the “press and public seem to fundamentally misunderstand the nature of test.
“Whether on the ground or in the air, developmental test is intended to understand, improve and confirm the capabilities of new systems,” he said. “Failure in the context of test, while unfortunate and in our case tragic, is essentially part of the deal.”
Virgin's SpaceShipTwo is a suborbital spaceplane aimed at transporting tourists into Earth's upper atmosphere. A White Knight Two aircraft must carry the SpaceShipTwo up to an altitude of 50,000 feet, according to the plane’s flight plan. There, SpaceShipTwo will separate from the White Knight Two and fire its liquid / solid hybrid rocket engine. The thrust carries passengers up to a maximum height of 361,000 feet, allowing them to experience a few minutes of weightlessness.
