Billionaire businessman Sir Richard became the first owner-astronaut to take part in a mission when he took off on board the spaceship in July this year - beating fellow billionaire space rivals Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to the space punch - ultimately reaching the edge of space, which he hailed as the “experience of a lifetime”.
However, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which regulates all aspects of US civil aviation, has now revealed that an “investigation is ongoing” into the Unity 22 mission.
According to an FAA spokesperson: “During its July 11, 2021 flight, the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo vehicle deviated from its Air Traffic Control clearance as it returned to Spaceport America”.
Virgin Galactic has acknowledged that the flight’s “ultimate trajectory deviated from our initial plan” and strayed out of its mandated airspace. The company blamed high altitude wind changes, but said that the spacecraft “did not fly outside of the lateral...