Erreur humaine causée ACCIDENT SHIP

The researchers reported Tuesday that the accident at the Virgin Galactic of 9 months was caused by a structural failure after the copilot unlock the brakes too early.

The National Board of Transportation Safety (NTSB, for its acronym in English) of the United States determined that the resulting aerodynamic forces caused the brakes were deployed, which destroyed the spacecraft SpaceShip Two.

The NTSB has been investigating what had caused the spacecraft broke over the Mojave Desert on a test flight nine months ago.

The ship was launched with the aircraft WhiteKnightTwo, which separated smoothly to fly independently. Moments later, the SpaceShipTwo crashed.

In the accident died the copilot Michael Alsbury. The pilot was seriously injured.

Human factors

The ship for tourist Virgin Galactic space flight was on a manned test flight last October 31 when he suffered what the company described at the time as a "serious anomaly".

The founder of Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson British after the accident said he was "shocked and saddened" by the "tragic loss."

The chairman of the NTSB, Christopher Hart, said Tuesday he expects the investigation to avoid similar accidents from occurring, adding that the security agency came to know "with a high degree of certainty the events that led to the rupture."

"Many of the security issues that we discussed today emerged not because of the novelty of the launch of a space test flight but by human factors known in other areas of the world of transport," he said.

Both drivers were hired by Scaled Composites, the company that designed the ship.