– ‘We must push on’ –
Carolynne Campbell, an expert with the Netherlands-based International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety, told AFP on Sunday that she and other experts “were concerned about what was going on at Virgin Galactic.”
She 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.
“I warned them… that the rocket motor was potentially dangerous,” she said.
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.
Branson wants to ferry wealthy customers to the edge of space, charging $250,000 (200,000 euros) per ticket, and the crash is expected to delay the program.
In his Sky News interview, he said: “We must push on.”
“I’m absolutely convinced that Virgin Galactic has a great future once the NTSB (US National Transportation Safety Board) has made clear exactly what happened,” he said.
But he stressed he would personally test the flight first. “We will not fly members of the public unless we can fly myself and family members,” he said.
A team of NTSB investigators has been deployed to the site of the crash, in which pilot Michael Alsbury was killed and co-pilot Pete Siebold was seriously injured.
NTSB acting chairman Christopher Hart told reporters on Sunday that a camera in the cockpit showed a lever had been moved by the co-pilot while the vehicle was travelling at a speed just above approximately Mach 1.0.
The lever, Hart said, was not supposed to be moved until reaching a speed of Mach 1.4.
“I am not stating this was the cause of this mishap. We have months and months of investigation to determine what the cause was,” Hart said.
About The Author
