Investigators unveil findings as expert claims Virgin Galactic ‘ignored’ warnings

Investigators say Virgin Galactic’s experimental spaceship broke apart in flight over California’s Mojave Desert after a device to slow the craft’s descent prematurely deployed. National Transportation Safety Board acting chairman Christopher Hart said Sunday that while no cause for Friday’s crash has been determined, investigators found the “feathering” system was activated before the craft reached the appropriate speed. Meanwhile, rocket science safety expert Carolynne Campbell said Virgin Galactic “ignored” repeated warnings in the years leading up to the crash. The rocket propulsion expert with the Netherlands-based International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety, said multiple warnings about the spacecraft’s motor and the fuel used to power it had been issued to Virgin since 2007, when three engineers died testing a rocket on the ground.

Based on the work we’ve done, including me writing a paper on the handling of nitrous oxide, we were concerned about what was going on at Virgin Galactic. I sent copies of the paper to various people at Virgin Galactic in 2009, and they were ignored.

Rocket propulsion expert Carolynne Campbell

Campbell’s warnings related to nitrous oxide, reportedly used as a fuel component in the doomed craft along with a new substance derived from nylon plastic grains. A team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has been deployed to the Mojave Desert to probe Friday’s crash, which left pilot Michael Alsbury dead and and co-pilot Pete Siebold seriously injured. Experts say the accident will delay the advent of commercial space tourism by several years. British tycoon Richard Branson said that safety had always been Virgin’s paramount concern.

To be honest, I find it slightly irresponsible that people who know nothing about what they’re saying can be saying things before the NTSB makes their comments.

British tycoon Richard Branson

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