Virgin Galactic aborts its powered spaceflight after engine breakdown

Space tourism company Virgin Galactic had to abort their first powered spaceflight from New Mexico spaceport because premature rocket engine cut out.

As seen in steam provided by NASASpaceflight, the spaceplane VSS Unity was successfully able to detach from the mothership and ignited its main engine. A failure in the ignition sequence caused the rocket motor to flame out only after a few seconds, as opposed to the full minute of burn needed to propel the vehicle to the edge of space. After the abort, Unity guided back to the New Mexico spaceport and landed safely.

No passengers were on board this flight, though the vehicle was carrying several microgravity payloads for NASA.

In a tweet, Virgin Galactic reported they are inspecting the spaceplane and suggested they may replace the rocket motor for future flights.