Posted on 10/31/2014 12:10:31 PM PDT by BenLurkin
CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL SAYS ONE PERSON KILLED, ONE INJURED IN CRASH OF VIRGIN GALACTIC SPACECRAFT IN MOJAVE DESERT -CNN, CNBC
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for further updates. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Oct 31 (Reuters) - A suborbital passenger spaceship being developed by Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic crashed during a test flight on Friday at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, officials said. Two pilots were aboard the spaceship, which was undergoing its first powered test flight since January. It was not immediately known if they were able to parachute to safety.
More than 800 people have paid or put down deposits to fly aboard the spaceship, which is carried to an altitude of about 45,000 feet and released. The spaceship then fires its rocket motor to catapult it to about 62 miles (100 km) high, giving passengers a view of the planet set against the blackness of space and a few minutes of weightlessness.
The spaceship is based on a prototype, called SpaceShipOne, which 10 years ago won the $10 million Ansari X Prize for the first privately developed manned spacecraft to fly in space.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
So...is the deposit refundable?
I might ask for my money back.
Earlier thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3221770/posts
I’ll say it again - SpaceX rockets haven’t crashed.
Not a good week for private spaceflight....
Never ride in a virgin galactic spaceship. Better to go with an experienced one.
Keep the Russians away from them
There’s something about the word ‘spaceship’ that sounds very juvenile.
Regrettable, but pushing the aerospace envelope can be a dangerous activity. These things will happen.
What gets me is that they were careful, pushing the envelope in small increments. Not amateurs, in any way.
And still.
Waiting for the inevitable “space is not for cowards” comment.
Eyes are shifting to Elon Musk.
I think someone got killed today.
This project seems to have a lot of problems and is taking a relatively long time after initial success.
If its broken it isn’t a virgin anymore...
just saying
Freegards
LEX
That might be a good idea. I don’t think there’s a way for the passengers to safely escape if something goes wrong, just like the Space Shuttle.
But spaceship is such an awesome word.
Why are we having an aircraft of some sort go down everyday?
Why are we having an aircraft of some sort go down everyday?
Who is John Galt?
1 dead,
1 "Serious" injury.
Cause:
"Serious anomaly." IOW, "don't know yet."
(Wild Ass Guess) Not that great a body of fatigue data on this composite stuff quite yet, and the thing has been flying with rocket power for well over a year..
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