Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) expresses the deepest sympathy for Virgin Galactic and all involved in today’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) incident. A loss for any of us is a loss for all of us.
SNC was in the past involved as a subcontractor to Scaled Composites, the prime contractor of this program for Virgin Galactic and was previously involved with the three successful powered flight tests of SS2. However, SNC’s technical and program involvement ended in May of 2014 with Virgin Galactic’s announcement to use its own internally developed technology for the SS2 rocket motor.
SNC had no involvement in the build or qualification testing of the motor used in this flight, nor in the integration of this motor to SS2. SNC was not engaged in any manner in the pre-flight safety or technical approvals or in the flight operations of the mission conducted today. We were not aware of the test today, nor present on site or remotely monitoring the testing in Mojave, Calif. At this time, SNC does not have any knowledge of what occurred beyond what has been reported publically.
Advancing space transportation is a difficult and often challenging journey. SNC, as a member of the greater space community, is standing by to assist Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites during this difficult time, if requested.
