SpaceShipTwo Suffers Malfunction in Test Flight

During the latest test flights of the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft the Virgin Galactic company is developing for suborbital joyrides, the vehicle entered a period of uncontrolled descent, during which time it was literally falling out of the sky. Eventually, the crew regained control of the situation.

The spacecraft's safety features were able to kick in in time, providing Virgin with the unwanted proof that they worked. Both the crew aboard the test vehicle and ground controllers stopped breathing for the few moments in which the SpaceShipTwo was out of control.

The accident happened during the 16th test flight carried out with the spacecraft. The maneuver took place on September 29, 2011, while the vehicle was carrying two pilots and a flight test engineer.

“Upon release, the spaceship experienced a downward pitch rate that caused a stall of the tails. The crew followed procedure, selecting the feather mode to revert to a benign condition. The crew then de-feathered and had a nominal return to base,” a Scaled Composites press release explains, quoted by Space.