[url=http://www.ibtimes.com/virgin-galactic-crash-one-confirmed-dead-spaceshiptwo-explosion-update-video-1717113]News Article on the accident.[/url]
So for those of you who are unversed in the ways of Commercial Space, Virgin Galactic is a company that operates the SpaceShipTwo. They've been having trouble with their fuel mixture, so they switched to a new type of fuel. Today was the first powered test flight with that new fuel.
The SpaceShipTwo works by being carried up to a high altitude by a double-bodied aircraft (Called WhiteKnightTwo), then dropped. After it is dropped, the rocket engine ignites and pushes the spacecraft to the edge of space. It then glides down to the same spaceport it was launched from.
Right now it is still in the testing phase, however it should be going commercial soon. Needless to say, this will delay that happening.
Details are still coming in, but it seems that activation of the rocket while in air caused an anomaly that resulted in an uncontrolled explosion. Of the two test pilots, one is dead and the other is seriously injured. At least one ejected. The Spacecraft supposedly broke up when it impacted the Mojave, leading to a total loss.
Interestingly enough, this was the 54th Test Flight. This falls in line with the accident rate for military aircraft of about 1/50 test flights. We saw a similar rate with the Space Shuttle Missions.
-
Should do better
-
Fuels too OP. Needs a nerf.
-
Yeah I saw this on CNN. That's horrible.
-
This is sad and unfortunate at the same time.
-
Edited by Legend To None: 10/31/2014 8:32:45 PMYeah I was really excited that they got the first test flights cause it was revolutionary in how much it costs to send a shuttle to space with this method. Since now we are paying Russian $400,000 (im a little fuzzy on this detail cause I think it may be way more than that) each time we send our astronauts to the ISS. I just hope this can be prevented in the future.
-
Hope confidence doesn't drop too much
-
Whats the point of that craft?
-
I heard about that....
-
I just saw that. It's been a rough week for the private aerospace industry.
-
At what speed was it moving upon ejection of the pilots?