Posted on 07/30/2007 4:16:30 PM PDT by KevinDavis
“Space transportation is inherently risky.” Those words are, quite literally, the law of the land in the United States, part of the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004. Few people would dispute that statement, given that spaceflight, commercial or otherwise, is still in its relative infancy. However, it’s easy to forget that when one gets caught up in the hoopla and hype that’s often associated with space tourism and the ventures seeking to serve that emerging market.
Last Thursday’s tragic accident in Mojave—a test stand explosion that claimed the lives of three Scaled Composites employees and seriously injured three others—serves as a sobering reminder that this field is indeed “inherently risky”. While more of an industrial rather than an aerospace accident, it does jolt an industry that has primarily focused on building vehicles, raising money, and enhancing its public profile in the process. The long-term implications of this particular accident are, at this early stage, too early to determine, but given the lack of mainstream media attention outside of local and industry circles, there is at least so far no evidence of a strong negative reaction from the public to this tragedy.
(Excerpt) Read more at thespacereview.com ...
The public is still fairly small. Those who have some interest in space tourism are very concerned.
Is there any early indication about what happened at SC??
There was lots of speculation here last week about structural failure of the tank vs organic contamination that set off a conflagration, but I have heard nothing definitive yet.
That is a good question..
That is a good question..
Keep in mind, it was both the flight and the ground computer that were sabotaged. I saw that someone guessed that had an in-flight anomaly happened, then the testing on the ground backup would show the same result and lead any investigation off track. We need to revert to torture if required to get to the truth; too much at stake to just let it ride.
I want to know WHY!!! I would also like to know if this bozo was a lone actor or was he “put up to doing it” by somebody else.
Nearly fifty years on and space travel is still risky, yet the government refuses to allow exploitation that might get private firms more interested.
If the government still maintained it’s monopoly on aviation, what would aircraft look like today?
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