VSS Unity from Spaceport America in New Mexico. (Credit: Virgin Galactic)
by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
It was a flight 22 months in the making. But, when it came time for the rubber to meet the oxidizer, the whole thing suddenly flamed out.
The hybrid engine on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo
VSS Unity failed to fire properly on Saturday, sending the suborbital rocket plane, pilots David Mackay and C.J. Sturckow and a load of NASA-sponsored experiments into a rapid descent and landing back at Spaceport America, instead of a graceful parabolic arc into suborbital space.
Although the misfire will cause another delay in a flight test program that has already lasted for more than decade, Virgin Galactic emphasized the positives.