Virgin Galactic’s Flight Path to Disaster: A Clash of High Risk and Hyperbole

Sky-High Hubris

Sir Richard Branson’s a consummate salesman, but his rhetoric and hopes got ahead of his company’s engineers.

Published Nov. 1 2014 9:06AM EDT

articles/2014/11/01/virgin-galactic-s-flight-path-to-disaster-a-clash-of-high-risk-and-hyperbole/141031-irving-richard-branson-tease_xzurlv — Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

It was always recklessly optimistic of Sir Richard Branson to imagine that he could go straight from experimental test flights of his Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two to carrying passengers in a matter of months.

That’s not the way that things work when you’re pushing at the edge of the unknown, as...

Clive Irving

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Virgin Galactic’s Flight Path to Disaster: A Clash of High Risk and Hyperbole

Sir Richard Branson’s a consummate salesman, but his rhetoric and hopes got ahead of his company’s engineers.

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Clive Irving