Austin, Texas (CNN Business) Virgin Galactic's supersonic rocket plane was scheduled to fire into the upper atmosphere Saturday, but after climbing more than 40,000 feet over New Mexico attached to its mothership, the space plane made an unexpected turn toward home rather than shooting skyward. The company confirmed that the space plane, which was carrying test pilots CJ Sturckow and Dave Mackay, safely landed. We will check the vehicle and be back to flight soon." This mission was meant to be the third test flight of VSS Unity to exceed the 50-mile mark, which the US government considers to be the beginning outer space. This was also supposed to be the first rocket-powered test flight Virgin Galactic carried out in New Mexico, where a glitzy spaceport paid for by more than $200 million in mostly taxpayer money, has been waiting for nearly a decade for Virgin Galactic to move in and open for business.

Source: CNN December 12, 2020 16:59 UTC