Virgin Galactic said its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane suffered an 'in-flight anomaly' during a powered test flight on Friday.
The reported anomaly came after SpaceShipTwo fired up its rocket engine in flight for the first time in more than nine months. Since then, Virgin Galactic has switched the plane's fuel mixture from a rubber-based compound to a plastic-based mix - in hopes that the new formulation would boost the hybrid rocket engine's performance.
The most recent aerial outing was on Oct. 7, when SpaceShipTwo took an unpowered, gliding flight back to the Mojave runway.
Friday's test got off to a slow start. SpaceShipTwo spent more than three hours on the Mojave runway, slung beneath its WhiteKnightTwo mothership, while the ground team assessed whether the weather was right for flight. The go-ahead was finally given for takeoff at 9:19 a.m. PT (12:19 p.m. ET).
It took WhiteKnightTwo about 45 minutes to get to 50,000 feet, the altitude at which it released SpaceShipTwo for free flight.
The aim of such flights is to test SpaceShipTwo in preparation for suborbital trips to the edge of outer space, beyond 100 kilometers (62 miles) in altitude. Depending on how the tests go, Virgin Galactic says SpaceShipTwo's first trip to an outer-space altitude could take place before the end of the year. The company's billionaire founder, Richard Branson, has said he would ride on the first commercial flight next year.
More than 700 customers have paid as much as $250,000 for a ride on the rocket plane.
NBCUniversal has established a multi-platform partnership with Virgin Galactic to track the development of SpaceShipTwo and televise Branson's spaceflight.
First published October 31 2014, 7:23 AM
Alan Boyle
Alan Boyle is the science editor for NBC News Digital. He joined MSNBC.com at its inception in July 1996, and took on the science role in July 1997 with the landing of NASA's Mars Pathfinder probe. Boyle is responsible for coverage of science and space for NBCNews.com.Boyle joined NBCNews.com from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, where he was the foreign desk editor from 1987 to 1996. Boyle has won awards for science journalism from numerous organizations, including the National Academies, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Association of Science Writers. Boyle is the author of 'The Case for Pluto: How a Little Planet Made a Big Difference.' He lives in Bellevue, Wash.
Entities 0 Name: Boyle Count: 4 1 Name: Virgin Galactic Count: 2 2 Name: American Association for the Advancement of Science Count: 1 3 Name: National Academies Count: 1 4 Name: Bellevue Count: 1 5 Name: Richard Branson Count: 1 6 Name: National Association of Science Writers Count: 1 7 Name: Seattle Post-Intelligencer Count: 1 8 Name: Pluto Count: 1 9 Name: NBC News Digital Count: 1 10 Name: NASA Count: 1 11 Name: Alan Boyle Alan Boyle Count: 1 12 Name: Branson Count: 1 13 Name: Mojave Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1toLpOE Title: Antares Rocket Explosion Puts NASA Policies Through Trial by Fire - NBC News Description: HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - This week's Antares rocket explosion marks the first big failure in NASA's campaign to resupply the International Space Station using low-cost commercial cargo ships - and experts say it demonstrates the wisdom of not relying on a single spaceship operator.
