A team investigating the fatal test-flight crash of a Virgin Galactic passenger spaceship found that its rotating tail, designed to ease re-entry into the atmosphere, was activated prematurely, and said pilot error could not be ruled out.
The preliminary findings of the National Transportation Safety Board were disclosed late Sunday by its acting chairman, Christopher Hart, but he said it was too soon to know whether the untimely unlocking of the tail mechanism caused Friday's accident.
The suborbital rocket plane dubbed SpaceShipTwo was undergoing its first powered test flight since January over California's Mojave Desert when it crashed shortly after the craft separated from the special jet aircraft that had carried it aloft for its high-altitude launch.