Virgin Galactic has now been cleared to fly again by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). 

The FAA claimed that the SpaceShip Two Unity craft, with founder Richard Branson and five others aboard, had deviated from its assigned airspace for a time period of 1 minute and 41 seconds. Also, it failed to report the error as required.

However, it accepted Virgin Galactic’s proposal to expand the protected airspace for a wider array of possible trajectories and to communicate with air traffic control during flights. 

Also read | US bars flights of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic over pending mishap probe

Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier, in a statement, said, “The updates to our airspace and real-time mission notification protocols will strengthen our preparations as we move closer to the commercial launch of our spaceflight experience.”

FAA grounded the company from flying its SpaceShipTwo over a pending mishap probe.

The FAA had said that ”Virgin Galactic may not return the SpaceShipTwo vehicle to flight until the FAA approves the final mishap investigation report or determines the issues related to the mishap do not affect public safety.”