SpaceShipTwo’s unique tail section, which can ‘feather’ at an angle to help the Virgin Galactic spacecraft make a safe descent, unfurled as it was ascending during the flight that ended in a fatal breakup last Friday and without being ordered to do so. The ‘feathering’ mechanism isn’t supposed to be unlocked until the spacecraft reaches 1.4 times the speed of sound, but on the flight that crashed, one of the pilots moved the mechanism’s lock-unlock lever into the unlocked position earlier, at just slightly above Mach 1. SpaceShipTwo’s co-pilot Michael Alsbury, (top right) 39, died when the aircraft crashed in the Mojave Desert in California on Friday. Surviving pilot Peter Siebold, (bottom right) 43, was alert and speaking with family members and medical staff in hospital, his employer, Scaled Composites, said.