Scaled Composites, founded by renowned aircraft designer Burt Rutan, historically has kept the timing of important test flights under wraps partly to prevent crowds from gathering at the Mojave airport, and partly to avoid putting undue pressure on project managers to launch or take off.

WSJ: Virgin Galactic Spacecraft Tests Its Rockets in Flight

The FAA has been under lots of pressure to improve project management after a history of delays in implementing improvements and cost over-runs.

ECONOMIST: Clearing the skies | The

Last week a Washington pressure group, the Project on Government Oversight, released a Pentagon report from last year setting out operational difficulties with the Predator.

ECONOMIST: Unmanned aircraft