US SPACE ROCKET BLOWS UP JUST AFTER LAUNCH

Aliens dun it.

As no-one was killed or injured, chuckles at this bit of pomposity are permitted:

Orbital Sciences @OrbitalSciences
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There has been a vehicle anomaly. We will update as soon as we are able.
10:29 PM - 28 Oct 2014

There has been a vehicle anomaly. We will update as soon as we are able.

Translation: Some stoopid f*cker forgot the red wires to the red wires, the yellow to the yellow, the green to the green - not the red ones to the yellow ones - and which of youse morons forgot to attach the black wires? LL

'This is an accident site, it is a rocket. People should not be collecting souvenirs.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2810128/Ready-liftoff-Nighttime-rocket-launch-International-Space-Station-visible-East-Coast.html#ixzz3HWZoHPfD
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If you launch exploding rockets in fairly heavily populated areas, don't be surprised if people keep 'souvenirs'. When there is no injury or loss of life, there is something rather entertaining about grandiose projects literally crashing and burning.

Haven't we all sniggered at those old black and white films of Werner Von Brauns' V2s crashing and blowing up? This is the modern version.

I wonder how much of that was outsourced to China?  

You get what you pay for and you pay for what you get.

Nothing funny about this one:

http://news.sky.com/story/1364455/one-dead-as-virgin-galactic-spaceship-crashes

One Dead As Virgin Galactic Spaceship Crashes
The tragedy over the Mojave Desert comes as Virgin Galactic was preparing to begin tourist flights to the edge of space next year.

By Sky News US Team

One person is dead and another injured after a Virgin Galactic suborbital rocket plane crashed on a powered test flight over California.

The tragedy occurred after SpaceShipTwo fired its rocket motor following a high-altitude drop from Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo mothership.

California Highway Patrol reported one fatality and one "major injury" after Friday's incident.



Wreckage from the crashed aircraft in the Mojave Desert

Virgin Galactic, part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, aims to begin space tourist flights to the edge of space next year.

The company said in a statement to Sky News: "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 the vehicle.

"The WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft 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 as soon as we are able to do so."

TV pictures showed wreckage from the crashed aircraft in the Mojave Desert.

Parachutes were reportedly spotted in the air.

More at link.

This is really sad.  It stated that they had been using a new type of fuel (plastic based?) amongst other things....

Yes, I saw that, Lily, but I freely admit, I didn't really understand it.

The cause will be revealed in due course, Bonny.  It could be a number of things in reality.  
Plastic Composites is the company that Burt Rutan started.

This is more positive:

http://rt.com/news/201447-china-moon-orbiter-landing/

hina has completed its first return mission to the moon. After flying around the moon, the unmanned probe landed successfully in the grasslands of Mongolia.

The mission was a test run for an ambitious unmanned trip to the moon’s surface planned for 2017, according to state agency Xinhua.

The probe’s aim was to test technology set to be used in the Chang’e-5, a probe whose goal will be to gather samples from the moon’s surface and return to Earth, China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) said.

The lunar return mission is a first for China, whose previous lunar exploration probes were not designed to come back to Earth.

Last December, China dispatched a rover on a one-way mission to the moon. Though plagued by technical issues, the rover, known as the Jade Rabbit, is still collecting data from the lunar surface.

On its way back to Earth, the craft, launched 8 days ago by a Long March rocket in western China, was travelling at a velocity of 11.2 kilometers per second, generating heat upwards of 1,500 degrees Celsius, reports Xinhua.

Using “skip-reentry technology,” scientists let the craft, dubbed Xiaofei or “Little Flier”, “bounce” off the Earth’s atmosphere before re-entering and landing. This move was designed to slow it down and reduce its temperature, Hao Xifan, deputy chief designer of the probe told China’s S&T Daily newspaper.

China’s military-run space program sent its first astronaut to space in 2003, and has made steady advances in space exploration over the last decade.

Beijing is planning to build a permanent space station by 2020 and eventually send a manned mission to the moon.

China views the development of its space program as evidence that its star is rising. The return of the Xiaofei probe makes China the third nation, following the former Soviet Union and the US to complete a mission to the moon and back.


I find it almost tragic that the staggering achievements of the US in the 60s and 70s weren't built on.

We know who didn't want to further that......

Look at this, so sad.  I remember the blast referred to in there.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/31/spaceshiptwo-flew-on-untested-rocket-motor.html

Previous fatalities and near-fatalities:

http://news.sky.com/story/1364746/a-history-of-space-disasters-in-10-points

It is such a double edged sword.....

I think we need to remember, that while every death is of course a tragedy - and frequently avoidable with more care ON THE GROUND - all those men and women died doing what they loved. Every one of them decided the risk was worth it, and chose their own path.

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if road travel is statistically more dangerous than space travel. There is NO chance of ever finding me in a spacecraft, I don't even like flying, but I am in awe of astronauts and cosmonauts. I wish governments would take a lead from them and work as peacefully together on earth as they do in space.

It may even be that accidents in the home pose a greater risk.  No doubt those pilots/astronauts knew the risks but wanted to blaze a trail.

Where would we be if Columbus had thought, No, I'm not going, too risky, the boat might sink....

Oh....you mean that Health and Safety hadn't got to him first?  

Something is wrong with my imac again.  It's picking up script its not supposed to.  Sorry guys.

That article posted is really interesting about Branson and his vision in getting there.

Thanks, Lily, that is indeed interesting. And if it's half-way accurate, then Richard Branston is going to come out of this very well.

He will, Bonny.  I really do like him as he is such a warm, generous man and doesn't hesitate to give hugs out like candy.....  

In other words, he is the type of person who does deserve what he has achieved.

He must feel dreadful at the death, and severe injury, of pilots that were friends as well, Lily. This was one of the worst space-related disasters, but it's not on many lists because of the circumstances at the time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nedelin_catastrophe

The Nedelin catastrophe or Nedelin disaster was a launch pad accident that occurred on 24 October 1960 at Baikonur test range (of which Baikonur Cosmodrome is a part), during the development of the Soviet ICBM R-16. As a prototype of the missile was being prepared for a test flight, an explosion occurred when second stage engines ignited accidentally, killing many military and technical personnel working on the preparations. Despite the magnitude of the disaster, news of it was suppressed for many years and the Soviet government did not acknowledge the event until 1989. The disaster is named after Chief Marshal of Artillery Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin (Russian: Митрофан Иванович Неделин), who was killed in the explosion. As commanding officer of the Soviet Union's Strategic Rocket Forces, Nedelin was head of the R-16 development program.

The USSR tried to cover it up by announcing the deaths of assorted generals in 'plane crashes', etc-

Complete secrecy was immediately imposed on the events of 24 October by Nikita Khrushchev. A news release stated that Nedelin had died in a plane crash and the families of the other engineers were advised to say their loved ones had died of the same cause. Khrushchev also ordered Leonid Brezhnev to head an investigation commission and go to the site. Among other things, the commission found that many more people were present on the launch pad than should have been — most were supposed to be safely offsite in bunkers.[citation needed]

According to Sergei Khrushchev, Brezhnev insisted that the commission punish no one, explaining that "The guilty have already been punished".

Wiki gives the death toll as 100, but I don't know if that is accurate.

I do believe he is rather devastated by it, Bonny.   He is such an honorable and responsible person.  I am sure he will make it his business to take care of the affected families.

We will probably never know the real figures of that horrendous event, Bonny.