Virgin Galactic confirms 20 cancellations after spacecraft’s crash
Virgin Galactic has revealed that about 20 of the 700 customers who have paid up to £150,000 a head to reserve seats on the space tourism venture's first flights have asked for their money back after last week's test flight crash.
Virgin Galactic has revealed that about 20 of the 700 customers who have paid up to £150,000 a head to reserve seats on the space tourism venture's first flights have asked for their money back after last week's test flight crash.
The crash, which killed one pilot and left the other seriously injured in hospital, led to about 3 per cent of Virgin Galactic's customers cancelling, a spokesperson for Richard Branson's space project confirmed. The company has collected about £50 million (HK$618 million) in deposits.
Virgin Galactic declined to disclose which customers had given up their seats, but the waiting list includes household names from scientist Stephen Hawking to Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
The cancellations came as investigators revealed Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo plane broke apart only 13 seconds after its rocket engine fired up.
The space plane was released from its carrier aircraft about 13,700 metres over the Mojave desert in California and two seconds later the engine ignited.
The craft was passing through the sound barrier when Michael Alsbury, the co-pilot, who was killed, unlocked the braking system early.
In an update on Tuesday, investigators said the system should not have been unlocked until the space plane reached the faster speed of Mach 1.4.
Even when unlocked it should not have activated until another lever was pushed, but aerodynamic forces may have pushed the system into position almost immediately.
