US SPACE ROCKET BLOWS UP JUST AFTER LAUNCH

It's interesting that by that time, the Soviets were taking the attitude that the man who caused it - who survived, ironically, because he'd sneaked off for a sly smoke - had been punished enough by the deaths of his friends and colleagues. The previous boss would have had him shot on the spot.

Thing is, they came back from a mega-disaster; the US came back from their tragedies, and I am sure Branson will too. He won't be mean with money towards the families of the dead man, or the injured pilot, and everyone on the project will learn from this - what not to do.

This is not good at all.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11203634/Branson-spaceship-explosion-The-missed-warnings.html

I'm not going to rush to judgement, because I know NOTHING about rocket propulsion, but if this is even half-way true:


Carolynne Campbell, the lead expert on rocket propulsion at the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS), said: “This explosion is not a surprise. None whatsoever, I am sorry to say. It is exactly what I was expecting. It was Russian roulette which test flight blew up.”
She had first warned Virgin Galactic about the danger of its nitrous oxide-propelled engines in the aftermath of the 2007 disaster, and has repeated those warnings since.
In a study published in 2010 on her website and sent to Sir Richard’s company as well as to the US authorities, she wrote: “We are not confident that … we yet know enough about N2O [nitrous oxide] to consider it a safe oxidiser for use in passenger flight.
"In the light of what we do know, safety must remain a major concern.”

then I am genuinely shocked at Branson; his planes and trains have had an excellent reputation, but people are liable to start wondering if he's been cutting corners there, too.

I'm shocked at him too, Bonny.  He does have a CEO running the company, who may or may not have been the one making those decisions, but the buck does stop with Richard.  

Virgin doesn't have the experience of space travel and therefore, should listen to those who do.  That blast regarding the N2O was horrendous and I remember it well.  Friday's flight they had changed the fuel to a plastic one without the proper tests.  That is very shocking in fact.

And this morning brings a perfect example of the follies of rushing to judgement:

http://news.sky.com/story/1365606/virgin-galactic-descend-system-deployed-early

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The investigation into the fatal Virgin Galactic spaceship crash has found one of the pilots deployed the "feathering" function too early.

Camera footage from inside SpaceShipTwo revealed that the key safety feature which helps the craft descend was unlocked by the co-pilot.

But the head of America's National Transportation Safety Board, Christopher Hart, stressed he was not saying this had been the cause of the disaster and that the investigation was still in its earliest stages.

Mr Hart said the "feathering" function - which involves the rotation of the tail boom - should have been deployed when the vehicle was travelling about 1.4 times the speed of sound.

But the feather began rotating when the vehicle was travelling at Mach 1.0.

"Normal launch procedures are that after the release, the ignition of the rocket, and acceleration, the feathering devices are not to be moved," he said.

"The lock/unlock lever is not to be moved into the unlock position until the acceleration is up to Mach 1.4. Instead, as I indicated, that occurred at approximately Mach 1.0."

Mr Hart also said the craft's fuel tanks and engine had been recovered intact, indicating there was no explosion.

He told reporters the fuel tanks and engine showed no signs of "burn through" or of being breached.

"The engine burn was normal up until the extension of the feathers," Mr Hart told reporters.

Nearly all the important parts of the vessel had been recovered and had been taken to a hangar for examination.

We will know after the investigation.  

I also believe that Richard will not proceed further on anything that is reckless.

As I said earlier, I know nothing about rocket science, but intact fuel tanks would tend to suggest that wasn't the cause.

Time will tell, as ever.

Interesting article from the LA Times about the pilot who survived.  

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-81879749/