Feds Caved to Let Richard Branson’s Unsafe Spaceship Fly

The NTSB says ‘political pressure’ on the FAA prevented it from stopping a dangerous program bankrolled by a delusional billionaire. Sources inside Virgin Galactic describe the breakdown. The Federal Aviation Administration’s oversight of Richard Branson’s “space tourism” program was so lax that it granted Virgin Galactic waivers from safety regulations that Galactic never asked for. That was one of the explosive findings announced by the National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday, nine months after the fatal crash of SpaceShipTwo. Although the NTSB confirms that copilot Mike Alsbury accidently caused the crash, the Board said FAA managers prevented inspectors from interrogating...