an aparrent engine explosion at ignition followed by a crash into the mojave

One injured, one confirmad dead...


Just a reminder that rockets are dangerous

Sad news indeed...

this was the first flight of space ship two with the polyamide fueled hybred-rocket engine

They switched to this nylon thermo plastic as solid fuel because they were having burn instability issues with the previous rubber material they had been using.

Both fuels used cryogenic Nitrous Oxide as oxidizer

http://flightclub.jalopnik.com...-1653788946/+Kyosuke

Just like the Challenger . Put PR, marketing first and it will fail. I'll bet that's the end of it .Now no one will touch it !
Listen to us engineers . Sometimes we actually know what we're talking about !

There definitely appears to be some corporate, money and authority over safety factor here. Sir Richard needs to have his royal ass kicked it sounds like....

Today's news suggests premature deployment of a feature designed to slow descent may have been the cause.

Branson said it best, Space is dangerous. Gotta ask how many pilots died in developing some of our most successful fighter aircraft ? It's part of the price you have to pay.

Grizz

This is terrible news!

But, I cannot help thinking that they are going too fast into this.

Branson has been promising flights for the past few years - may be the engineers had too much pressure to make the flight before all tests were made??

The list of test pilots who have lost their lives in testing is long. Shit happens. Did the engineer who designed the wire loom under Gus Grissom's seat in Apollo 1 purposefully cause the short circuit that resulted in the pad fire that killed three astronauts? Did the company that made the electric motor that stirred the cryo tanks on Apollo 13 sabotage it to ignite the O2 and cause and explosion that nearly killed all three astronauts? Do management types ignore warnings from engineers that there may be issues with SRB seals or fuel tank insulation - hell yes! How many died in the development of the Osprey? There are many reasons for failure. I'm sure Richard Branson wants to find out exactly why it happened and fix it. What financial reason would an entrepreneur like him have to do otherwise? Does anyone think he would want a client to die in his craft?

Pilot error defeats the best engineering every time.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Today's news suggests premature deployment of a feature designed to slow descent may have been the cause.

The official cause has been stated as a premature deployment of the "Feathering" wing during powered ascent causing an inflight breakup due to aerodynamic forces at high speed.

it was not in any way a rocket motor failure

there are inherent risks in powered flight let alone high powered flight involving rocket propulsion fly enough even in the safest craft
man has ever built will stastically still kill you eventually...

fast rocket powered experimental flight will do so more quickly...

Don't fly at all and slipping in the shower or choking on a chicken bone will kill you...

reality is you gotta die of something...

One thing that few seem to pick on, is that one of the pilots survived.

When is the last time that a spaceship blew up in flight and someone made it out alive?

The break-up happened when the spacecraft was supersonic, at roughly the same altitude as Challenger's.

I'd say that this in itself (crew survival) is a remarkable progress.

And the pilot had no space suitable for the temperature up there apparently. Sounds like he was extremely lucky.

Surviving pilot apparently had no idea until the last day or so that his copilot deployed the drag feature prematurely.
The ship didn't so much blow up as it came apart.

A bit like popping the thrust reversers at cruise speed on a DC-9...

But apparently the co-pilot only unlocked them prematurely, and they deployed without any other pilot input.