The United States Aviation Agency (FAA) announced Thursday that the Virgin Galactic spacecraft may not be able to fly again until an investigation is concluded into an incident during a flight in July that carried billionaire Richard Branson, founder of the company, for a few minutes in space.
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"
Virgin Galactic will not be able to fly its SpaceShipTwo ship in the air until the FAA approves the final investigation report or determines that the issues related to the incident do not affect public safety
," she said. know in a statement sent to AFP.
The investigation relates to a deviation of the trajectory during this highly publicized flight, which was supposed to mark the company's entry into the era of space tourism with a bang.
The FAA had earlier confirmed it was investigating the July 11 flight.
"SpaceShipTwo has deviated from its flight authorization"
"
SpaceShipTwo deviated from its air traffic control clearance by returning to Spaceport America,
" the space base used by the company in the New Mexico desert, she said in a statement.
Read alsoRichard Branson makes his first space flight with Virgin Galactic
The development comes after the publication of a
New Yorker
article on Wednesday
that revealed that security alerts were lit in the ship's cockpit during the flight, synonymous with a serious problem that could have resulted in a fatal outcome.
The trajectory problem threatened to compromise the return phase to Earth, when the spacecraft hovered until it landed on a runway, according to the newspaper.
In a statement ahead of the FAA's announcement, Virgin Galactic strongly contested the article's findings.
"
When the vehicle was confronted with high altitude winds, which altered the trajectory, the pilots and systems monitored the trajectory to ensure that it remained within the parameters of the mission,
" detailed the 'business.
“
Our pilots responded appropriately to these changing flight conditions.
The group's stock fell suddenly after the FAA's announcement and lost around 5% around 6:15 p.m. GMT.
