Virgin Galactic: After the Accident

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After Accident, Virgin Galactic Takes a Cautious Path to Spaceflight

It's been five months since Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane broke up in flight, killing one of its pilots and injuring the other. The results of the investigation have not yet been released, and for that reason the company's executives are reluctant to say much about the lessons learned. But there's one lesson they're willing to share: Don't say too much about what you're planning to do before you do it.

Before the accident, company founder Richard Branson issued statements saying SpaceShipTwo would fly paying passengers to the edge of space within one to three years — whether that translated into 2007, or 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014 or 2015.

"Sometimes people misinterpreted those as firm dates or promises," said Will Pomerantz, Virgin Galactic's vice president for projects, "so we don't want to repeat that mistake."

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