New York, USA (CWBN)_ The third test flight conducted by Virgin Galactic early yesterday (12th Dec), was forced to abort after its engines gave out mid-flight. It was reported that the spaceplane, VSS Unity, was able to safely glide back to its launch base in New Mexico.
The incident was captured on video by NASA Space Flight and aired live on Twitch TV. The video showed Unity being successfully dropped in mid-flight by its carrier plane, followed by a brief engine ignition. It was expected that the engine would remain ignited for a period of 60 seconds, which would have enabled the spaceplane to reach beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
The spaceplane was carrying two pilots, C.J. Sturckow and Dave Mackay, alongside a micro-gravity payload for NASA.
Virgin Galactic later announced via Twitter that pilots involved in the flight were “back safe and sound”.
The company later noted that “The ignition sequence for the rocket motor did not complete. Vehicle and crew are in great shape. We have several motors ready at Spaceport America. We will check the vehicle and be back to flight soon.”
Previous test flights conducted in 2018 and 2019 took place from the company’s Mojave Air and Spaceport in California before turning to Spaceport America in New Mexico with the intention of carrying out its commercial operations from there.
