NASA (money well spent!)

SerenityNigh · October 29, 2014

Layne said:
Pardon my ignorance on space business but what, for the billions upon billions spent, has space travel given us besides a flag stuck in a big rock and nonstick pans?

Satellite TV

Huyton Layne · October 29, 2014

SerenityNigh said:
Satellite TV

Nvm then. Wouldn't be able to watch the match and for that reason I'm in.

SerenityNigh · October 31, 2014

Since there's no separate thread, seems reasonable enough to put this here: Virgin Galactic test flight crashes today, killing one test pilot and injuring the second. The carrier aircraft (White Knight 2) returned to the ground unaffected.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/31/spaceshiptwo-richard-branson-virgin-crash-mojave

One person dead as Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane crashes on test flight
Virgin Galactic said plane designed for commercial space travel was undertaking test flight in California when an ‘in-flight anomaly’ occurred

One of Virgin Galactic’s rocket planes crashed after an explosion during a test flight over the Mojave desert on Friday, killing one person on board and seriously injuring another.

The plane, SpaceShipTwo, was undertaking a test flight as part of Virgin Galactic’s plans for commercial space travel when a “serious anomaly” occurred, the company said.

Two pilots are usually on board for the test flights, launched from a base in the Mojave desert. The California Highway Patrol confirmed that one person was dead and another had suffered “major injuries” in the accident, which happened at 10:51am local time. The survivor was flown to hospital by air ambulance.

“We are going to secure the scene until the appropriate agency that investigates this comes out,” said Jesse Borne, a California Highway officer based in Mojave.

SpaceShipTwo is the second-stage launch vehicle for Virgin Galactic’s space flight program. It is designed to disconnect from the propeller-engined WhiteKnight (WK2) craft and ascend to space under rocket power, then return to earth on its own power.

Virgin Galactic said its top concern was the status of the pilots onboard SpaceShipTwo, which was operated in partnership with the aerospace company Scaled Composites.

In a series of posts on Twitter, the company said: “Virgin Galactic’s partner Scaled Composites conducted a powered test flight of #SpaceShipTwo earlier today. During the test, the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of SpaceShipTwo. WK2 landed safely.

“Our first concern is the status of the pilots, which is unknown at this time. We will work closely with relevant authorities to determine the cause of this accident and provide updates ASAP.”

Ken Brown, a photographer who saw the crash, said the space tourism craft exploded after it was released from the carrier plane, the Associated Press reported.

Doug Messier, a blogger who runs the website Parabolic Arc, which reports on space news, wrote on Twitter that he witnessed the crash from Jawbone Station, which is on a ridge overlooking the desert where the craft crashed.

“We saw the twin contrails of WhiteKnightTwo overhead. They do that prior to a drop,” he tweeted. “#SpaceShipTwo dropped. From what I could tell, motor fired and then stopped then fired again. I think that’s what happened.”

He reported that clouds made it hard to see clearly, but it appeared that SpaceShipTwo “broke apart and started coming down in pieces over the desert.” He added: “We started seeing clouds of dirt where pieces of the ship came down. One after another. At least 3.”

Messier reported then driving to one of the debris sites. “Debris from the ship was scattered all over the road,” he said.

The US National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) said it was aware of the incident but could provide no additional information on Friday afternoon.

— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic)October 31, 2014
During the test, the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of SpaceShipTwo. WK2 landed safely. (2 of 4)

NBC News reported that the aircraft was forced to wait on the runway at the test site for three hours before it took off, while the ground team assessed the weather conditions.

Virgin Galactic is owned by Richard Branson’s Virgin group and Aabar Investments PJS, an investment company owned, via the International Petroleum Investment Company, by the government of Abu Dhabi.

The launch vehicles used by Virgin Galactic are built by Scaled Composites, an American company owned by Northrop Grumman. The Virgin Galactic website says that “safety is Virgin Galactic’s North Star”.

In 2011, SpaceShip Two experienced a malfunction during re-entry during a test flight, though the pilots were able to correct the problem and land the craft successfully.

Analysts have been sceptical about whether Branson’s plans for commercial space travel can be achieved. The launch date has been repeatedly delayed.

Almost 700 people, including Tom Hanks and Angelina Jolie, had paid to book a two-hour journey into space on SpaceShipTwo, which would include a planned five minutes of weightlessness.