After a full safety analysis of the vehicle, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA-AST) has awarded Virgin Galactic an operator license for its suborbital SpaceShipTwo rocketplane. The award will eventually permit commercial operations of the vehicle.
The news is a step forward for the project which was rocked by a fatal test flight accident in 2014 when the craft’s wing was accidentally deployed during the ascent part of the flight.