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Virgin Galactic CEO Richard Branson said Monday his space tourism project will continue and he still plans to be the first passenger.“We will finish building the next spaceship. We will learn from what happened to the first spaceship. We will test it many, many times,” Branson said in an interview with CNN to discuss Friday’s […]

When FAA officials agreed to ban flights above Ferguson, Missouri, for 12 days in August, they knew the purpose was not for safety but to restrict media coverage of local street protests, The Associated Press reported on Monday. “They finally admitted it really was to keep the media out,” said one FAA manager, referring to […]

Investigators probing the crash of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo are focusing on a potential uncommanded deployment of the vehicle’s unique feathering tail structure designed to create drag and control speed during atmospheric entry. In a press conference Sunday evening, NTSB acting chairman Christopher Hart said that early data indicated the crew activated one of two controls […]

The Wall Street Journal is reporting (subscription only) that structural failure, rather than an engine explosion, is the initial focus of the NTSB investigation into the loss of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo on Friday. It is quoting unnamed sources as saying the preliminary video and data analysis is turning the focus to an aerodynamic breakup, although […]

An atypically restrained Richard Branson told reporters on Saturday his Virgin Galactic will find the cause of Friday’s catastrophic loss of SpaceShipTwo but he’s making no predictions about how long it will delay his dream of carrying “ordinary people” to space. “We are not going to push on blindly,” Branson said shortly after his arrival […]

The Flying Aviation Expo is “definitely the first of many” says the president of the show. Marco Parratto told AVweb in a podcast interview that preregistration numbers (2,100) and a quality list of exhibitors has encouraged him and his primary sponsors to keep mounting the show. He described the show as having “an aviation core […]

Glasair says it will fly its new S-LSA trainer by early 2015 and expects to have the aircraft on display at Sun ‘n Fun next April. The mockup was displayed at SnF last April. Nick Frisch, Glasair’s director of sales and marketing, told AVweb in a podcast interview at Flying Aviation Expo in Palm Springs […]

A new generation of “digital natives” will fill the pilot seats of the future and the technology they embrace is becoming the new norm in the cockpit, according to comments made by industry leaders Friday. The forum on “disruptive technology” at the Flying Aviation Expo in Palm Springs heard from four people who have been […]

One test pilot has died and another has been seriously injured in the crash of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo during a test flight from Mojave Air and Space Port, California. The company said that the spacecraft suffered an anomaly that resulted in loss of the vehicle. Parachutes were reportedly sighted in the area. One witness said […]

Shortly after liftoff of Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Antares Rocket from the Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia on Tuesday, Oct. 28, it became apparent to the operators that there was a problem with the launch and they hit the destruct button. Barron Beneski, vice president of corporate communications at Orbital, confirmed that the flight termination system was […]