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 ...
my thoughts and sympathies go to the pilot’s family.
does anyone else think space tourism is a dumb idea? we’ve only had - let’s see - 2 shuttle explosions, countless fatalities...and that’s just NASA’s record. If people want to risk their lives can’t they stick to bungee jumping, or maybe hiking Mt. Everest?
oh poo I think I FReepmailed instead of posting.
Basically it could have been an engine failure that set up a subsonic oscillation that pushed the air frame beyond design specs.
Those pivot points always bothered me.
If they're paying for it who am I to call them on it?
I wonder how many of the 700 space tourists have had a change of travel plans after today’s disaster? Anyways, I elect Justin Bieber to get the first ride...
Also the Orbital Sciences incident this week.
Solid fuel “slurries” have interesting burn tendencies/patterns...
Its all in how they pour, or fill the chamber and how it is cured around the igniters...
Go back and check out the complex procedures surrounding the Shuttles SRB’s...
Used to scare the bejeezus out of me every time they fired those damn things...This is not a lot of difference, mainly in the size of the chamber obviously...
Darwin award??? ;-)
(just making a little lite, in spite of this being a sad day)
I was thinking they stuck them in the warehouse that also held all the spare MiG-21, -25 and T-54 engines.
Also, in one of those warehouses, the Russians recently found a brand new in box T-44 radiator.
Yeah, and this has the added twist of having gas blown over it.
“If we die, we want people to accept it. We’re in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life.”
- Gus Grissom
These days, NASA is uber risk averse.
I know - but that is one reason why private industry is getting a foothold.
A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.
We were told that at some point during my first week in the Navy.
You are never careless with life - but if you never take risks, you’ll never do anything new.
I was thinking the same thing. Think of what it was like back in early 20th Century as we started to fly, that was a risky business, and a lot of people died.
This is a terrible thing.
But I have to admit, for a second it filled me with a small thrill when it highlighted the context. Imagine what spaceflight could be in 100 years, it it travels the same continuum as the first explorations of manned powered flight.
I suspect these men who were injured or died today held and hold that very spark of thrill inside them as well, when they surely realized at some point the possibility of walking in the shoes of the Wright Brothers as they pushed the commercialization of spacecraft. They all understand and readily accept the risks and the dangers, because it is in our blood to push our boundaries that way.
I love that about mankind.
I think that saying is amazingly relevant here.
See my post above-
We as a species seem to grasp the concept that you can never enter the same river twice, and we are attracted to the concept of being the first ones to put our foot into that river.
This is a sad day indeed. But there are going to be many more of them.
Yup.
NASA seems to have forgotten that.
A virgin’s “carcass” lying in the desert, yikes. RIP
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/10/31/1414796936362_wps_30_Wreckage_from_Virgin_Gala.jpg
Richard Branson on the SpaceShipTwo crash
Looks like they're gonna keep going.
I have no problem with private industry making lots of money. I have a problem when I’m forced as a taxpayer to subsidize them and their losses. This is from Drudge:http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SPACESHIPTWO?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-10-31-15-42-41
NM Gov Richardson and Branson had a deal where we the taxpayers built them a special runway and hangar. I wonder if the deal included taxpayers sharing in the profits. It never works that way just like with Wall St, NFL, NBA, etc., does it?
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