Virgin Galactic Spaceship's 'Feathering' System Eyed in Deadly Crash

Monday, November 3, 2014 - 01:30 in Astronomy & Space

SpaceShipTwo's twin rudders can be rotated up to increase drag when the vehicle heads back down toward Earth. On Friday's flight, this maneuver should have been performed when the vehicle was traveling at Mach 1.4, but it actually occurred at Mach 1.0.

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