Richard Branson (71) was the first of three billionaires to fly into space. On July 11, 2021, the British entrepreneur took off from Earth in a rocket from the space company Virgin Galactic – and landed again about 90 minutes later.
The expedition was successful – at least that’s how it was communicated to the public. Now a report has shown that there was a delicate situation during the flight, as “The New Yorker” writes.
It’s about a puzzling 1:41 minutes in which Branson’s spaceship deviated from the prescribed trajectory on its return to Earth. The FAA has launched an investigation to investigate this deviation.
Yellow and red warning lights shortly after take-off
The report also states that a minute after take-off, a yellow light flashed in the cockpit. It was a warning that the spaceplane was climbing too little steeply.
This is not entirely harmless: if the calculated angle is no longer correct, there could be an emergency landing after re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere, writes the newspaper. The warning was heightened when the light suddenly blinked red.
According to the report, the wrong course caused the British billionaire’s spaceplane to leave his assigned airspace for almost two minutes. The aviation authority is now investigating what exactly happened between the warning signals and the departure from the prescribed route. (gin)