Posted on 10/31/2014 11:41:51 AM PDT by prisoner6
Virgin Galactic said its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane suffered an "in-flight anomaly" during a powered test flight on Friday that resulted in the loss of the aircraft.
#SpaceShipTwo has experienced an in-flight anomaly. Additional info and statement forthcoming.
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) October
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
“Sources said SpaceShipTwo exploded in midflight, and debris fell onto California’s Mojave Desert. “
I’d say an explosion is more than an anomaly.
Yikes.
Went from rubber based fuel to plastic?
Wonder if it boiled, burped, and ruptured?
Yes, it was new fuel, plastic based rather than the previous rubber based.
I have a crisp $10 bill that says Obama races out to get on TV to mourn the lost civilian astronaut and uses the term “... touched the face of God.”
They made it look easy in 2004. We were not expecting failure, even though they lost three engineers testing a few years ago.
Good bet..! 100% chance.
He’ok be the most religious, mourning ho Prez in history, just watch.
New fuel seems the most likely cause however this was it’s 36th flight if I heard correctly. Air frame failure has to be considered as well, it’s an evolving tech.
Article saysthey went ot a new fuel.
I’d look at that as the most likely cause of the explosion.
Rule that out, look to oxidizer tanks afterwards.
At any rate, God be with the families.
I hope the fuel wasn’t changed to be “more green” than “high carbon” burning rubber.
Has the mythical warming globe has claimed another space vehicle? - Wasn’t Columbia and CFC free insulation the first?
Catastrophic structural failure? Any word on the pilots?
Columbia was the first unless one of the prior Delta rocket explosions was due in part to fuel mix changes for “environmental reasons”.
Have not heard tell if they were due to any fuel changes though.
The fuel change in SS2 was in hopes of squeaking more performance out from what I heard.
Weather.com is reporting one dead, one injured.
During a test flight over the Mojave Desert today, Virgin Galactic’s spaceship suffered a “serious anomaly” and crashed.
Two pilots were on board the plane, as is typical during test flights, and media reports claim that one parachute was seen on the ground. The California Highway Patrol is reporting one fatality, according to the AP.
There is a with parts of the plane scattered across the desert.
http://www.wired.com/2014/10/virgin-galactics-spaceshiptwo-crashes/
Local authorities from the Kern County Fire Department are conducting search and rescue operations and Virgin Galactic issued a statement saying it “will work closely with relevant authorities to determine the cause of this accident” and provide updates soon.
Today was the 55th time SpaceShipTwo had flown, and the 35th time the vehicle flew on its own, detached from the airplane that carries it airborne. It was only the fourth time SpaceShipTwo had actually fired its rocket, but the first time the ship had used a new polyamide-based rocket fuel—effectively a plastic-based fuel rather than the rubber-based fuel that had been used previously.
Joel Glenn Brenner, a journalist speaking on CNN today, said that the SpaceShipTwo rocket engine appeared to have burned for two seconds after ignition and then stopped in what may have been a hard start. The vehicle engine then restarted and exploded.
http://www.wired.com/2014/10/virgin-galactics-spaceshiptwo-crashes/
Fuel seems to have been the bad actor. I wonder if the new fuel could have caused a ...clog...for want of a better word.
Sounds plausible until Scaled Composites/Virgin finds out different.
Pilot ejected...co pilot did not and was killed. Pilot hospitalized with MAJOR injuries.
It is interesting to me at least that the stabilizers seem to have sheared at the articulation point. They also seem to have hit the earth at relatively low speed.
News conference at 2pm Pacific.
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