Billionaire Branson’s Virgin Galactic Grounded By FAA Pending Investigation

Billionaire Branson’s Virgin Galactic Grounded By FAA Pending Investigation

The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday said it has grounded billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo vehicle until the agency completes an investigation into the vehicle's flight outside its designated air space in July.

"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," the aviation agency said in a statement.

Branson is tied to the Providence-based Virgin Pulse company. In 2018, he came to Providence and voiced that he thought the Superman Building should be transformed into a hotel.

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The FAA’s announcement is a blow to the company that is selling consumer flights to space.

The FAA announcement comes after a report in Arstechnica Wednesday that the spacecraft, carrying Richard Branson and three other passengers, flew outside of its designated airspace over New Mexico for 1 minute and 42 seconds on July 11.

"During that flight, a red light appeared on a console of the spacecraft, alerting the crew to an 'entry glide-cone warning.' Pilots Dave Mackay and Mike Masucci faced a split-second decision: kill the rocket motor or take immediate action to address their trajectory problem. The pilots chose to continue the engine burn and corrected the trajectory error. But in doing so, they flew outside of their designated air space, which had been cleared for the safety of other aircraft and people on the ground," reports Arstechnica.