'It dropped like a rock and went straight down': How Virgin's SpaceShipTwo hurtled out of control on most recent test flight

A malfunction during the most recent test flight of Virgin's commercial space plane saw it hurtle out of control and plunge to earth before pilots regained control, it was today revealed.

SpaceShipTwo, designed to carry members of the public on commercial suborbital flights from Virgin Galatic's spaceport in New Mexico, was out on its 16th glide flight on September 29.

It, along with two pilots and a flight test engineer, had been lifted to a high altitude by its carrier plane, WhiteKnightTwo. 

Close call: SpaceShipTwo, seen being carried by WhiteKnightTwo, ran into trouble on its most recent test flight (file picture) after a malfunction caused it to plummet to the ground

But, in a nail-biting scene, when released the ship immediately began to plummet to the ground. 

The quick-thinking crew sprung into action to adopt the ship's 'feather re-entry system' and managed to land the craft safely with seconds to spare.

'It dropped like a rock and went straight down,' one observer told space.com. 'Typically, it takes 11 minutes to land, but this time it was only seven minutes before they were on the ground. It was a nail-biter … but that's how you learn.'

Celebrating: News of the malfunction came as Sir Richard Branson was snapped swigging champagne while repelling down the hanger at Virgin Galactic's newly launched spaceport in New Mexico

The feather system is a safety feature of the craft that allows it to rely on aerodynamics to control speed and altitude, rather like the flight of a shuttlecock in badminton. 

It was the first time a third seat flight test engineer had been on board during a test flight.

Despite the glitch, Scaled Composites, which is building the spaceship fleet for Virgin Galactic, wrote 'great flying by the team and good demo of feather system' in the flight log.

Grand: WhiteKnightTwo, carrying SpaceShipTwo, sits on the tarmac at the $209million taxpayer-financed spaceport in New Mexico

Crowds watch as SpaceShipTwo takes flight at the launch of the spaceport. The plane malfunctioned during a test flight on September 29

George Whitesides, Virgin Galactic's CEO and president, said: 'Yes, apparently the tails exhibited stall characteristics in the test - which was a steep nose down maneuver.

'This is why we flight test, to fully explore the aerodynamic flight envelope.'

The news comes as Sir Richard Branson celebrated the launch of the $209million taxpayer-financed spaceport by repelling down the walls of the hanger while swigging from a bottle of champagne.

Branson hopes enough powered test flights of Virgin Galactic's sleek spacecraft can be done by the end of 2012 to start commercial suborbital flights from the spaceport soon after.

More than 450 people have purchased tickets costing $200,000 per return trip to fly with Virgin Galactic. About 150 of them attended the ceremony.

The two-and-a-half-hour flights will include about five minutes of weightlessness and views of Earth that until now only astronauts have been able to experience.