US regulators granted the operator of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo a licence even though they had spotted failings in its assessment of the potential for human error to cause a catastrophic crash, an investigative hearing has heard.

一调查听证会得知，美国监管机构已向维珍银河(Virgin Galactic)“宇宙飞船2号”(SpaceShipTwo)的运营商发放许可，尽管他们发现该公司在评估人为失误可能导致灾难性坠毁方面存在过失。

The Federal Aviation Administration’s actions came to light as the National Transportation Safety Board presented the findings of its investigation into why the suborbital rocket crashed during a test flight on October 31 last year, killing the co-pilot.

在美国联邦航空管理局(Federal Aviation Administration)颁发许可之际，美国国家运输安全委员会(National Transport Safety Board)递交了调查结果，内容是去年10月31日维珍银河的亚轨道火箭为何在试飞中坠毁，事件导致副驾驶员丧生。

The rocket was intended to provide suborbital near-space flights through an arm of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. It crashed during ascent when the co-pilot Michael Alsbury wrongly unlocked at 0.8 times the speed of sound (0.8 Mach) a “feathering”, or braking, mechanism, meant to slow the craft during descent. The stress of then passing the sound barrier during the “boost phase” pushed open the mechanism, causing the rocket to break up.

这枚火箭原本是要通过理查德•布兰森勋爵(Richard Branson)旗下维珍集团的子公司进行亚轨道近太空飞行。火箭在上升过程中坠毁，当时副驾驶迈克尔•阿尔斯伯里(Michael Alsbury)错误的在0.8倍于声速的速度（0.8马赫）时解锁了一个“羽翼”系统，也称制动系统，该系统原本是用来在飞机下降时减速的。当时处于“推进阶段”的超过声速的空气动力打开了该系统，导致火箭解体。

The crew were meant to leave the mechanism locked until the craft reached Mach 1.4, then unlock it quickly before 1.8 Mach.

机内人员原本要在飞机速度达到1.4马赫之前锁定该系统的，然后在速度达到1.8马赫之前快速解锁。

The hearing in Washington was told that Scaled Composites, the arm of Northrop Grumman that designed the craft, had not considered the possibility that human error could lead to an early unlocking of the mechanism.

华盛顿的听证会上说法是，设计这架宇宙飞船的诺斯罗普•格鲁曼(Northrop Grumman)的子公司Scaled Composites没有考虑到人为失误可能会导致该制动系统提前解锁。

While the Federal Aviation Administration recognised the shortcomings in Scaled’s hazards assessment, the court heard that the regulator issued the company a waiver from complying with the rules without Scaled’s asking for it.

尽管美国联邦航空管理局承认了Scaled Composites在风险评估中的不足，但法庭得知，美国联邦航空管理局在Scaled没有要求的情况下，赋予了该公司一项豁免权，允许该公司不必遵守规定。

Virgin Galactic said that, even before the crash, it had started a safety review in preparation for taking control of the flight test programme from Scaled, which it has now done. The company had introduced a mechanism to prevent premature unlocking of the feathering device and was now preparing for commercial service, it said.

维珍银河表示，甚至在飞船坠毁前，公司在准备从Scaled手中获得试飞计划控制权方面就开始了安全评估，现在也一直这么做。该公司表示，已引入防止提前解锁羽翼设备的机制，现在正准备提供商业服务。

George Whitesides, Virgin Galactic’s chief executive, said the company remained “as humbled as ever” by the difficulty of its work and the challenges of space.

维珍银河首席执行官乔治•怀特赛兹(George Whitesides)表示，该公司仍对工作中的困难以及太空挑战“怀有谦卑之心”。

“We are encouraged by the progress to date with our second spaceship, and we look to the future with hope and determination,” he said.

他表示：“我们第二架宇宙飞船迄今取得的进展让我们备受激励，我们对未来充满希望和信心。”

The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

记者没有立即联系到美国联邦航空管理局置评。