The US Federal Aviation Administration has grounded Virgin Galactic missions as it investigates how Sir Richard Branson’s recent space flight drifted off course during its climb skyward.

The US Federal Aviation Administration has grounded Virgin Galactic missions as it investigates how Sir Richard Branson’s recent space flight drifted off course during its climb skyward.

The British billionaire fulfilled a lifetime ambition on 11 July by riding his rocket plane to 86km in altitude.

But the New Yorker magazine has revealed how the vehicle flew for a period outside its pre-agreed airspace.

Sir Richard’s company has disputed the New Yorker’s description of events.

The rocket plane, known as Unity or SpaceShip Two, which carried Sir Richard aloft, landed safely.

In a short statement, the FAA said it was overseeing the investigation of the “July 11 SpaceShipTwo mishap that occurred over Spaceport America, New Mexico.

“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,” it added.

In response to the FAA announcement, Virgin Galactic told the BBC it was cooperating fully with the aviation administration.

It took such issues very seriously, it said, and was working to determine how to prevent trajectory deviations from occurring on future missions.

Thursday saw the company announce details of the next Unity flight – a research outing for the Italian Air Force.

This had been scheduled for the end of September or early October, but must now await the results of the FAA probe.

Source BBC

By Arsalan Ahmad

Arsalan Ahmad is a Research Engineer working on 2-D Materials, graduated from the Institute of Advanced Materials, Bahaudin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arsalanahmad-materialsresearchengr/