Virgin space tourist plane crashes

I want to know whether those people who have pre-ordered tickets will be able to cancel if they are now having second thoughts?


Graham.
 
Of course, this will crash.
It WILL Crash when carrying tourists.
Anyone who thinks otherwise is just being daft.

Planes Crash
Cars Crash
Bus's Crash
Bicycles crash
Rockets Crash
Ships sink
quad bikes
Motorcycles

Everyone must accept these things will happen, dust themselves off, find out why, fix and improve that point of failure and carry on.
Otherwise no progress would ever happen.

Sad, but it's inevitable, and WILL happen.

I almost feel this fact should be publicly talked about, as part of the price for advancement, so that when it does happen, people don't shout OMG have to reconsider the venture etc etc. It's almost something that should be expected, and just have to mourn yet take it on the chin and carry on.
 
^
Have to agree!
I'm sure there were plenty of fatalities when aeroplanes were in their infancy. It's going to happen and will happen again and he's right 'we' need to learn from it and improve on the technology.
 
If I had that sort of money there is no way I'd risk it on that venture. Be a guinea pig? No chance.
 
Well, as with all things, we all balance risk and reward

I agree, if I won Euromillions I'd not be one of the 1st to put my name down, but if they had flown say 100 times. Flights, 12 and 37 blew up, but they found out the reasons why, and have very over engineered those issues, and all flights from 38 to 100 have gone without a hitch.
If It was my only chance to ever experience that, I may by then feel I'd take the risk
 
Its certainly a big step back for the project and no i wouldnt be on the first flight. I think even Richard Branson will be reconsidering taking his family aboard the first flight. That being said, i think a lot of projects looking to advance and stretch the capabilities of man have probably all have had catastrophic setbacks; Commercial Aviation, Military Aviation, even non commercial Space Travel, to name a few. What is most disturbing about this story is that the safety measures appear to have failed resulting in the co-pilot dying. Now that could be because the safety measures are about as much use as an ashtray on a motor bike should a pilot need to eject when travelling at supersonic speed at 80000 ft or if the fuel tanks explode. Test pilots are aware of the risks, danger is in their job spec. Had both test pilots survived i think we would be interested in this story but not quite as interested or damning of the project overall.

Here is an interesting article about how SS2 has recently switched from rubber based fuel to plastic based fuel propelent which some engineers feel was a risk so late in the project:

New Fuel To Boost SpaceShipTwo | Space content from Aviation Week
 
This stuff is difficult and because you're so high up a failure would pretty much put you in a Felix Baumgartner free-fall but likely without the pressure-suit to keep you alive. Or a parachute, or ejector seat. It's likely that the test pilots had all of these safety items but for whatever reason they still didn't make it (rough guess here, the aircraft might have been breaking up around them when they ejected which would have increased the risks of ejecting) so this proves that what Virgin Galactic are doing is dangerous beyond what could possibly ever be considered routine, mundane or "consumer safe".

So, would I do it?

Yes. In a heartbeat. Hell, if they needed ballast for a test flight and decided it had to be organic in nature, I would be the first in line.

Jas.
 
Have to say, if it's all or nothing then either way there isn't much to worry about.
Would I go? Yes.
I don't have dependants so no-one else to worry about.
 
Likewise

Wouldn't put me off. Though I may wait for the first couple of missions to come back.

Big setback though. Really hoping that space tourism takes off big time (which I think it will) in the near future as I would love to do this but need it to be thousand rather than hundreds of thousands in cost.

RIP to the pilot.
 
We forget the failure rate of NASA.
At the time of their first manned flight early losses of vehicles was 50% - yes, 1 in 2 had blown up.
They did a hell of a lot of work to improve the odds for the first astronaut and we will never know they names of all the people who made that difference.
 
Just to put this into perspective

5 people actually died in car accidents yesterday, just in the UK
Another 5 will die today
5 more tomorrow etc etc

And this is not including really bad injuries, these are actual deaths.

I know a lot more people are driving, then flying experimental space-ish planes, but still, I hope people just accept this along the lines of a very unfortunate, but totally expected price that has to be paid to get anywhere in this line of advancement.
 
And how many from smoking, drinking and drugs?
 
I think most people would be amazed to know that just under 1400 people die in the UK every single day of the week.

That is pretty nearly exactly 1 person a minute dies in the UK every single minute of the day.
60 minutes a hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

It does put OMG 1 person dies, however sad, into a better perspective.
 
Very sad but, pioneering flight technology will always come with a cost when at the design stage as planes and spacecraft have done previously. A couple of Edison quotes always spring to mind when there's outcry at unfortunate events like this:

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

“Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.”
 
Just to put this into perspective

5 people actually died in car accidents yesterday, just in the UK
Another 5 will die today
5 more tomorrow etc etc

And this is not including really bad injuries, these are actual deaths.

I know a lot more people are driving, then flying experimental space-ish planes, but still, I hope people just accept this along the lines of a very unfortunate, but totally expected price that has to be paid to get anywhere in this line of advancement.
A lot more by a factor of millions, driving in close proximity of each other, inches apart at times. Put it into another perspective, people have to drive, flying into space as a leisure activity is not something we have to do.
 
A lot more by a factor of millions, driving in close proximity of each other, inches apart at times. Put it into another perspective, people have to drive, flying into space as a leisure activity is not something we have to do.

I agree, but I really do feel the need to correct one little point of what you said.
People do not HAVE to drive.
We like to drive, we want to drive, we find it convenient for our choice of particular lifestyle to drive, we can make it hard to do some things we have chosen to do if we don't.
But we don't HAVE to drive.
 
I agree, but I really do feel the need to correct one little point of what you said.
People do not HAVE to drive.
We like to drive, we want to drive, we find it convenient for our choice of particular lifestyle to drive, we can make it hard to do some things we have chosen to do if we don't.
But we don't HAVE to drive.
We can argue semantics but we are where we are and society is organised in such a way that driving is essential for many people. I used to work in a rural district about 11 miles from my house, my choice was drive myself there within 20 mins or spend 100 mins waiting for and travelling on buses. My job involved frequently visiting other sites in a County 50 miles by 20 miles or just over 1000 sq miles. How would it have been possible to do my job if I'd exercised my 'choice' not to drive.
 
We can argue semantics but we are where we are and society is organised in such a way that driving is essential for many people. I used to work in a rural district about 11 miles from my house, my choice was drive myself there within 20 mins or spend 100 mins waiting for and travelling on buses. My job involved frequently visiting other sites in a County 50 miles by 20 miles or just over 1000 sq miles. How would it have been possible to do my job if I'd exercised my 'choice' not to drive.

Indeed, and I am glad that you have pointed out it's all choice.
No one forced you to get that job. If you were not able to pass your test due to mental, physical or other reasons, then you would not of had that job.
I could suggest that the country would be a lot better place for a LOT of people if it were not for those who have a home in the country and commute in their cars, but that's another issue.
As you have quite rightly said, it's a personal choice.
If you did not drive you would have a different lifestyle that's all :)
 
If you did not drive you would have a different lifestyle that's all :)
I don't drive on a day to day basis. In my current job my workplace is just over two miles away. I walk which takes 40 mins it's cheap, healthy and gives helps clear my head.
 
But we don't HAVE to drive.

Totally depends on where you live. In the country, if I didn't drive I wouldn't have a job. A 15 minute car journey to the local town would take about 2 hours by bus and either get to work an hour late or 2 hours early.
 
Totally depends on where you live. In the country, if I didn't drive I wouldn't have a job. A 15 minute car journey to the local town would take about 2 hours by bus and either get to work an hour late or 2 hours early.

Ok, I do honestly understand what you are saying, and indeed I use my car also for work and leisure.
I could suggest we often look at these things from the other way round.
I choose to work there, as I have a car, as opposed to I need a car as I work there.
Or I chose to live there as I have a car, as opposed to I live here so I need a car.
It's not that long ago people did not have cars, and worked locally and we survived the past million years ish :)

I accept many people could not carry on exactly as now. I'm sure you would survive :)
 
I think it's a bit late to expect everyone living in the country to revert to agricultural work locally, so while you have a point, it's not really applicable. :)
 
It would be better to have some information regarding what went wrong and why. Also why is it, with safety procedures, a pilot lost his life at a height of only 50,000 feet.

From space the Earth's atmosphere starts at about 400,000 feet (76 miles), this is where the space shuttle begins re-entry into the atmosphere. However, NASA considers anyone flying above 264,000 feet (50 miles) an astronaut.

I think the Virgin Galactic spacecraft hope, eventually, to reach 62 mile height, but that height is nowhere near space.
 
I think it's a bit late to expect everyone living in the country to revert to agricultural work locally, so while you have a point, it's not really applicable. :)

Yes, I know, and I do mean it in a light hearted way :)
It's just, and I'm the same, we get our lives set in one way, and feel that it's the only way.
From time to time things come along in our lives, an accident, a family member dies, we lose out job etc, and we have to wake up and make a change.
I'm sure there any some who would think it would be the end of the world for them if they had to sell their apartment in Spain. they may have to change what they are used to and get a cheap holiday in a hotel! :)

We all get used to our lives the way they are :)

Back on topic though, I feel bad for the guys family as it's them who are hurting right now, though I do suspect it's not something they have never considered was going to happen one day.

Let's hope there will always be those who are willing to put themselves out there, take the personal risks to push forward so that the rest of us, in our comfy homes in the country :) Can one day share in some of their work. After all, Us normal people are the ones, those brave people are taking these risks for.
Most of us, would not want to put our lives on the line as they are doing.
But without those people, we'd not even have our Cars, Planes, or anything the Space age has brought to us.
 

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