[BenLurkin]

Interesting.

Always worried that one of those "flutter down" wings would malfunction during a reentry. Never thought it would be during a climb.

[BenLurkin]

[al baby]

I am not totally sold on plastic airplanes

[The Antiyuppie]

I’m wondering how many spacecraft experts the NTSB has on-staff.

Seriously, I suppose they will have to learn - but wouldn’t NASA be of more help here?

[The Antiyuppie]

I was wondering when they would give up on the original propellant that they were using for this rocket. It never was powerful enough to be anything other than for joy rides. If it was a structural issue, maybe the new propellant had too much force for the airframe. But the designers of this system are certainly among the best aircraft designers who ever lived, and it’s hard to believe that they wouldn’t have taken that into account.

[smokingfrog]

The hybrid motor fueled by nitrous oxide and a plastic-based compound were found some 5 miles from where large sections of the tail first hit the ground. Sections of the fuselage, fuel tanks and cockpit were located some distance from the engine itself.

5 miles in which direction? - up range or down range?

[Jack Hydrazine]

The TMRO show did an interview with a couple of guys who were there on the ground during the Virgin Galactic test flight.

We are joined by Doug Messier of ParabolicArc.com and photographer Ken Brown (AP Photo’s) who were in Mojave watching SpaceShipTwo’s flight. A day before the SpaceShipTwo accident Doug wrote an amazing article about why Scaled Composites and the SpaceShipTwo engine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpno4_o65fQ&list=UU2s0KlNEQSDfXGVPIPidxpw

[Jack Hydrazine]

Acting Chairman Christopher A. Hart’s Third Media Briefing on Crash of SpaceShipTwo, Mojave, Calif.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjYVhGvUSNc