Federal investigators revealed that one of the two pilots of the Virgin Galactic crash last month was able to survive the ordeal because he was still strapped in his seat as the plane broke apart in midair but was somehow able to free himself.
With the ship about nine miles above Earth, pilot Peter Siebold said the craft broke apart around him and he was ejected into the thin, subfreezing air still strapped to his seat. As he was falling, Siebold unbuckled himself "at some point" before the parachute opened, according to a recounting of events released today by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.
The co-pilot, Michael Alsbury, died in the accident shortly after mistakenly unlocking a "feathering" system designed to slow the aircraft during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The Spaceship Two broke up a few seconds after being dropped from its mother ship, the WhiteKnightTwo, which had carried it up to an altitude of about 45,000 feet (13,700 meters).
Siebold, who spoke to NTSB investigators Nov. 7 about the test flight of Richard Branson's Spaceship Two, said he wasn't aware that co-pilot Michael Alsbury had unlocked a braking system earlier than procedures allowed. The NTSB said that system, known as a feather, opened seconds before Spaceship Two disintegrated over the California desert. Alsbury was killed.
"According to the pilot, he was unaware that the feather system had been unlocked early by the co-pilot," the NTSB said today. "His description of the vehicle motion was consistent with other data sources in the investigation. He stated that he was extracted from the vehicle as a result of the breakup sequence and unbuckled from his seat at some point before the parachute deployed automatically."
Investigators have said that the copilot had unlocked the craft's movable tail, and that likely led to the breakup of the aircraft. It's unknown why the tail deployed early.
The accident was a serious blow to Virgin chief Richard Branson's dream of taking wealthy passengers up to the edge of space as tourists, and is likely to delay the program significantly.
But last week a company spokeswoman said Virgin Galactic could resume test flights with a new spaceship within six months. The NTSB probe is expected to last up to a year or more.
"It's possible that test flights for the next spaceship could begin within six months, before the investigation is expected to conclude," the Virgin spokeswoman told AFP.
Branson, who rushed to the Mojave Desert within hours of the crash, has vowed to press on with his dream.
"While this has been a tragic setback, we are moving forward and will do so deliberately and with determination," his company said.
"We owe it to all of those who have risked and given so much to stay the course and deliver on the promise of creating the first commercial spaceline." The crash was the second disaster to rock the private sector space industry in the same week.
An Antares rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station exploded after takeoff in Virginia a few days previously.
