NTSB: Virgin Galactic Spacecraft Tail System Deployed Prematurely Before Crash

Lorenda Ward, investigator-in-charge of the SpaceShipTwo accident. (Credit: NTSB)

A press briefing by the National Transportation Safety Board regarding its investigation into the crash of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo revealed new information and more questions about its surrounding circumstances.

On Sunday night, NTSB Acting Chairman Hart explained that SpaceShipTwos tail section has the ability to feather, which enables the spacecraft to make a safer descent. He then revealed that shortly prior to the spacecraft breaking up in flight, the feathering system deployed prematurely.

According to the spacecrafts flight procedures, said Hart, there are two steps required for the feathering system to deploy. First, the system must be unlocked by one lever, then a second needs to be moved to deploy the system. The system isnt supposed to be unlocked until the spacecraft reaches a speed of Mach 1.4, however it appears that the co-pilot moved the lever to unlock at a speed of just over Mach 1.0. The second lever was never activated but it appears the feathering system deployed anyway.

During the briefing, Hart emphasized on several occasions that this is a statement of fact, not of cause, and that determining exactly what happened still requires a lot of analysis.

To that end, Hart noted that the NTSB has recovered nearly every important part of debris from the spaceship crash. In particular, both the fuel tanks and engine were recovered intact, with no indication of breach.

This is of interest because since the accident, a lot of attention and speculation has focused on whether an engine failure caused the crash, as this was the first flight of SpaceShipTwo with its new fuel mix. Hart indicated that the engine data gathered so far appeared to be normal.

Of course, as Hart stated, investigators are a long way from finding the cause. The NTSB still has a number of people to interview and a lot of data to go through. It will be months, possibly even a year, before the agency issues the final results of its investigation.

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NTSB: Virgin Galactic Spacecraft Tail System Deployed Prematurely Before Crash