Virgin Galactic unexpectedly aborts test flight of space plane

Virgin Galactic’s supersonic rocket plane was scheduled to fire into the upper atmosphere Saturday, but after climbing more than 40,000 feet over New Mexico attached to its mothership, the space plane made an unexpected turn toward home rather than shooting skyward.

The company confirmed that the space plane, which was carrying test pilots CJ Sturckow and Dave Mackay, safely landed.

“Pilots and vehicles back safe and sound,” Virgin Galactic said via Twitter. It was not immediately clear why the test flight was aborted.

Both Sturckow and Mackay have previously piloted successful Virgin Galactic test flights.

This mission was meant to be the third test flight of VSS Unity to exceed the 50-mile mark, which the US government considers to be the beginning outer space. This was also supposed to be the first rocket-powered test flight Virgin Galactic carried out in New Mexico, where a glitzy spaceport paid for by more than $200 million in mostly taxpayer money, has been waiting for nearly a decade for Virgin Galactic to move in and open for business.

The company’s development program has endured years of delays for a variety of reasons, including a fatal 2014 crash that killed a test pilot, technology hangups, and, more recently, the Covid-19 pandemic.

Saturday’s attempted the test flight was already overdue. It was scheduled for November but Virgin Galactic delayed the mission after a surge in coronavirus cases prompted the New Mexico state government to implement new restrictions.

Virgin Galactic moved into the New Mexico facility in May 2019. The company refurbished the building to include a lounge and other amenities that ticket holders — who so far have forked over between $200,000 to $250,000 each to reserve seats — will be able to use before their brief journey to the edge of space.

Virgin Galactic says it has about 600 customers so far, and the company is expecting to reopen ticket sales soon. New tickets, however, are expected to be priced higher than $250,000 — which is already more than the median home price in the United States — when that happens.

Before then, however, Virgin Galactic says it still needs to conduct another test flight that will carry four crew members in VSS Unity’s cabin. The company says it will also look to conduct its long-promised mission to carry Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson, the 70-year-old entrepreneur, to space before beginning broader commercial operations.