SpaceShip2 Crashes!
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SpaceShip2 Crashes!
This is a very bad week. Virgin Galactic' SpaceShip2 has crashed. At least one dead.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-v ... story.html
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-v ... story.html
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Re: SpaceShip2 Crashes!
Getting word that the engine exploded upon ignition. One pilot was able to bail out but was badly injured and the other did not get out.U.S. Water Rockets wrote:This is a very bad week. Virgin Galactic' SpaceShip2 has crashed. At least one dead.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-v ... story.html
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Re: SpaceShip2 Crashes!
Read an interesting article, that perhaps success came to early with the hybrid engine. That scaling was proving impossible due to the rough running nature of the engine. But can't change the engine when you have already built a plane around it. The article was written before this launch.U.S. Water Rockets wrote:Getting word that the engine exploded upon ignition. One pilot was able to bail out but was badly injured and the other did not get out.U.S. Water Rockets wrote:This is a very bad week. Virgin Galactic' SpaceShip2 has crashed. At least one dead.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-v ... story.html
Bugwubber
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Re: SpaceShip2 Crashes!
bugwubber wrote:Read an interesting article, that perhaps success came to early with the hybrid engine. That scaling was proving impossible due to the rough running nature of the engine. But can't change the engine when you have already built a plane around it. The article was written before this launch.U.S. Water Rockets wrote:Getting word that the engine exploded upon ignition. One pilot was able to bail out but was badly injured and the other did not get out.U.S. Water Rockets wrote:This is a very bad week. Virgin Galactic' SpaceShip2 has crashed. At least one dead.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-v ... story.html
Apparently, there were people with serious concerns about the safety of the program that had filed letters of complaint regarding the engine and other issues. It's sounding like the PR people were keeping these concerns silent and there were a great deal of over-promising and under-delivering going on.
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Re: SpaceShip2 Crashes!
So obviously the research is still being done but this statement-
"...the fuel tanks, the oxidizer tanks and the engine, and all were intact, showed no signs of burn through, no signs of being breached."
Combined with the determination that the tail "feathered" early
well, this is going to be an interesting story.
"...the fuel tanks, the oxidizer tanks and the engine, and all were intact, showed no signs of burn through, no signs of being breached."
Combined with the determination that the tail "feathered" early
well, this is going to be an interesting story.
Bugwubber
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Re: SpaceShip2 Crashes!
That really adds to the mystery. Why did the ship release the tail section? Some reports are saying the pilot did it manually, but how do they know?bugwubber wrote:So obviously the research is still being done but this statement-
"...the fuel tanks, the oxidizer tanks and the engine, and all were intact, showed no signs of burn through, no signs of being breached."
Combined with the determination that the tail "feathered" early
well, this is going to be an interesting story.
The real jaw dropping thing is that the copilot parachuted from 50,000+ feet at Mach 1 with no space suit.
Speculation was that he fell to 20,000 feet to get into "warm" air before opening his chute. How did he even breathe? Maybe he just held his breath until he thought he would pass out and then pulled the cord?
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Re: SpaceShip2 Crashes!
Sounds very similar to the SR71 test pilot whose plane disintegrated around him. He didn't eject and somehow his parachute and seat set into eject mode. Something just went right for him.U.S. Water Rockets wrote:That really adds to the mystery. Why did the ship release the tail section? Some reports are saying the pilot did it manually, but how do they know?bugwubber wrote:So obviously the research is still being done but this statement-
"...the fuel tanks, the oxidizer tanks and the engine, and all were intact, showed no signs of burn through, no signs of being breached."
Combined with the determination that the tail "feathered" early
well, this is going to be an interesting story.
The real jaw dropping thing is that the copilot parachuted from 50,000+ feet at Mach 1 with no space suit.
Speculation was that he fell to 20,000 feet to get into "warm" air before opening his chute. How did he even breathe? Maybe he just held his breath until he thought he would pass out and then pulled the cord?
Bugwubber
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Re: SpaceShip2 Crashes!
They had video feed from the cockpit.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/04/busin ... pe=article
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/04/busin ... pe=article
Damn. The very thing that Mr. Rutan extolled as making this spacecraft safer than all others just ended up being one more way to die.In addition, a video camera in the cockpit showed Mr. Alsbury switching the lever to the unlocked position, Mr. Hart said. That occurred at a velocity of about Mach 1, which is the speed of sound at a given altitude. Under normal operations, that lever would not be moved until later in the flight, when the space plane had reached a speed of Mach 1.4, Mr. Hart said. The plane’s altitude would also be higher, where the air is thinner.
Two seconds later, the booms rotated, even though neither pilot had moved the feathering handle.
“Shortly after the feathering occurred, the telemetry data terminated, and the video data terminated," Mr. Hart said. "The engine burn was normal, up until the extension of the feathers.”
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Re: SpaceShip2 Crashes!
bugwubber wrote:They had video feed from the cockpit.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/04/busin ... pe=article
Damn. The very thing that Mr. Rutan extolled as making this spacecraft safer than all others just ended up being one more way to die.In addition, a video camera in the cockpit showed Mr. Alsbury switching the lever to the unlocked position, Mr. Hart said. That occurred at a velocity of about Mach 1, which is the speed of sound at a given altitude. Under normal operations, that lever would not be moved until later in the flight, when the space plane had reached a speed of Mach 1.4, Mr. Hart said. The plane’s altitude would also be higher, where the air is thinner.
Two seconds later, the booms rotated, even though neither pilot had moved the feathering handle.
“Shortly after the feathering occurred, the telemetry data terminated, and the video data terminated," Mr. Hart said. "The engine burn was normal, up until the extension of the feathers.”
People are asking for refunds on their deposits now.
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Re: SpaceShip2 Crashes!
Here it is- the surviving pilot didn't eject, he just suddenly found himself outside his spacecraft.
http://www.newser.com/story/198570/ntsb ... eship.html
http://www.newser.com/story/198570/ntsb ... eship.html
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Re: SpaceShip2 Crashes!
That explanation was something we were speculating about. That's pretty crazy. Can you imagine what that was like?bugwubber wrote:Here it is- the surviving pilot didn't eject, he just suddenly found himself outside his spacecraft.
http://www.newser.com/story/198570/ntsb ... eship.html
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Re: SpaceShip2 Crashes!
No.U.S. Water Rockets1 wrote:That explanation was something we were speculating about. That's pretty crazy. Can you imagine what that was like?bugwubber wrote:Here it is- the surviving pilot didn't eject, he just suddenly found himself outside his spacecraft.
http://www.newser.com/story/198570/ntsb ... eship.html
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Re: SpaceShip2 Crashes!
The other night the movie "Red Tails" was playing on one of the cable channels, and they have some scenes in the beginning of WWII bombers getting shot down by German fighters. The effects were incredible, and they took the time to show some brief clips of the bomber interiors as they were shot and were going down, and how hard it would be to escape a plane that was spiraling out of control. It looks like a lot of the airmen who got out were more or less thrown out when the planes broke up. Pretty scary stuff.bugwubber wrote:No.U.S. Water Rockets1 wrote:That explanation was something we were speculating about. That's pretty crazy. Can you imagine what that was like?bugwubber wrote:Here it is- the surviving pilot didn't eject, he just suddenly found himself outside his spacecraft.
http://www.newser.com/story/198570/ntsb ... eship.html