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SpaceShipTwo Investigation Turns to Vehicle’s Feathering System

by Jeff FoustNovember 3, 2014January 20, 2023

SpaceShipTwo in full feather wing mode on a rapid descent from its drop altitude of 51,500 feet over Mojave,CA Wednesday May 4, 2011. The feathered wing is at its full 65 degree angle and remained at this angle for 1 minute and 15 seconds. The craft descended in this configuration at a near vertical angle at a rate of 15,500 feet per minute. The craft was reconfigured to normal glide mode at 33,500 feet. All objectives of the flight were met. The flight duration of SpaceShipTwo following release was approximatel 11 minutes and 5 seconds. This photograph was taken with high powered telescopes from the ground.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Nov. 2 that a “feathering” system on SpaceShipTwo appeared to have prematurely deployed on its fatal Oct. 31 test flight.

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Jeff Foust

Jeff Foust has more than a decade of experience writing about space policy, entrepreneurial ventures and regulatory affairs. In 2001, he established spacetoday.net to aggregate and summarize the day's space-related news stories. In 2003, he started The... More by Jeff Foust