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Category Archives: Space Flight

Space fanatic Sir Trevor Beattie: 'I'm keeping my Virgin Galactic ticket'

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Birmingham businessman Sir Trevor Beattie has pledged that he will still take part in the Virgin Galactic space flight even after the tragic crash.

The entrepreneur, who was born in the city, took to social media site Twitter to pledge his support for the project.

Sir Trevor, who paid 100,000 to be one of the first to travel to space with Sir Richard Bransons company is undaunted by the horrific test flight explosion, which left one pilot dead and one seriously injured.

He said: For the record, I will not be cancelling my @virgingalactic ticket. Not now. Not ever.

A massive investigation is taking place following the crash, and officials said the inquiry could last more than a year.

Christopher Hart, who is spearheading the National Transportation Safety Boards (NTSB) investigation, said the recovery mission was still under way, with small parts of the SpaceShipTwo found 35 miles from the crash site.

Co-pilot Michael Alsbury, 39, died when the aircraft crashed in the Mojave Desert in California on Friday, while surviving pilot Peter Siebold, 43, was said to be alert and speaking with family members and medical staff in hospital.

In the wake of the incident Trevor also said: Sweet dreams and flying machines. In pieces on the ground. Broken hearted.

Sir Trevor has also highlighted a fund being raised in aid of Mike Alsbury, the pilot killed in the crash.

Virgin Galactic owned by Sir Richard Bransons Virgin Group and Aabar Investments PJS of Abu Dhabi plans to fly passengers to altitudes more than 62 miles (100km) above Earth.

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Space fanatic Sir Trevor Beattie: 'I'm keeping my Virgin Galactic ticket'

Virgin Galactic’s Space Ship Two Explodes During Test Flight Over Mojave Desert – Video

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Virgin Galactic #39;s Space Ship Two Explodes During Test Flight Over Mojave Desert
http://www.undergroundworldnews.com Virgin Galactic #39;s SpaceShipTwo space plane crashed during a test flight over California #39;s Mojave Desert this afternoon, the company said. A report issued...

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Virgin Galactic's Space Ship Two Explodes During Test Flight Over Mojave Desert - Video

Some Defend Space Flight In Wake Of Deadly Virgin Galactic Crash – Video

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Some Defend Space Flight In Wake Of Deadly Virgin Galactic Crash
In the wake of the fatal crash of Virgin Galactic #39;s SpaceShipTwo, which killed one pilot and resulted in serious injuries for another, some people have continued to voice their support for...

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Some Defend Space Flight In Wake Of Deadly Virgin Galactic Crash - Video

Space travel moving forward after Galactic crash

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Josh Edelson | AFP | Getty Images

Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson speaks at a press conference at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California on November 1, 2014.

Henricks went on to say that although the tragedy was heartbreaking, he felt certain that, because of these events, "space vehicles will be that much more reliable when they take passengers up."

He also said many other companies also intend to embark on private space travel, too, in addition to Virgin.

"A company called Golden Spike plans to take people to the moon, privately," Henricks added. "There's also Sierra Nevada, Blue Origin, and Bigelow Aerospace. Again, this is not the end."

Turning attention to the Virgin Galactic crash, investigators are still fact finding in Mojave, California, the site of the tragedy which claimed the life of one pilot and serious injured another.

Read More Investigation of Virgin Galactic crash continues

According to the latest information, the aircraft's rotating tail, designed to ease reentry into the atmosphere, was activated prematurely. However, the National Transportation Safety Board also said it was too soon to know whether that mechanism caused Friday's accident.

The spacecraft was designed to carry wealthy passengers on short rides into space, with Virgin Galactic planning to begin offering its first flights to paying customers next spring.

In the wake of the crash, Virgin Galactic said about 3 percent of customers are asking for refunds.

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Space travel moving forward after Galactic crash

Private space travel moves forward

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Josh Edelson | AFP | Getty Images

Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson speaks at a press conference at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California on November 1, 2014.

Henricks went on to say that although the tragedy was heartbreaking, he felt certain that, because of these events, "space vehicles will be that much more reliable when they take passengers up."

He also said many other companies also intend to embark on private space travel, too, in addition to Virgin.

"A company called Golden Spike plans to take people to the moon, privately," Henricks added. "There's also Sierra Nevada, Blue Origin, and Bigelow Aerospace. Again, this is not the end."

Turning attention to the Virgin Galactic crash, investigators are still fact finding in Mojave, California, the site of the tragedy which claimed the life of one pilot and serious injured another.

Read More Investigation of Virgin Galactic crash continues

According to the latest information, the aircraft's rotating tail, designed to ease reentry into the atmosphere, was activated prematurely. However, the National Transportation Safety Board also said it was too soon to know whether that mechanism caused Friday's accident.

The spacecraft was designed to carry wealthy passengers on short rides into space, with Virgin Galactic planning to begin offering its first flights to paying customers next spring.

In the wake of the crash, Virgin Galactic said about 3 percent of customers are asking for refunds.

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Private space travel moves forward

Investigating crash, NTSB considers safety culture of commercial space flight Part 1

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GWEN IFILL: These past few days have been sobering ones for the small but growing industry of commercial spaceflight. A pair of accidents, one of which was deadly, are prompting questions about cost, safety, oversight, and even the wisdom of this shift in space travel.

NewsHour science correspondent Miles OBrien has the story.

MILES OBRIEN: Federal investigators are still combing through wreckage, as well as multiple data and video streams, in the wake of a deadly test flight high over Californias Mojave Desert.

Virgin Galactics SpaceShipTwo broke apart in flight on Friday, scattering debris over five miles. Investigators now believe the ships feathering system, which rotates the tail boom to create drag and slow descent, deployed early, and apparently without a command from the pilots.

The National Transportation Safety Boards chair, Christopher Hart, spoke last night.

CHRISTOPHER HART, Acting Chairman, National Transportation Safety Board: The spaceship was released normally, and after it was released, shortly after it was released, the rocket engine ignited. About nine seconds after the engine ignited, the telemetry data told us, showed us that the feather parameters changed from lock to unlock.

MILES OBRIEN: A two-man crew was on board. The co-pilot, Michael Alsbury, was killed. Pilot Peter Siebold, who parachuted to the ground, is hospitalized with serious injuries, but hes expected to recover.

It was the fourth powered flight for SpaceShipTwo, the first using a fuel derived from nylon. But the engine and the fuel and oxidizer tanks show no sign of an explosion. While there is no doubt that feathering during ascent would cause the vehicle to breakup, the NTSB will spend months trying to determine precisely what caused it to happen and what other factors might have contributed.

CHRISTOPHER HART: We will be looking at training issues. We will be looking at, was there pressure to continue testing? We will be looking at safety culture. We will be looking at the design, the procedure. We have got many, many issues to look into much more extensively before we can determine the cause.

MILES OBRIEN: Virgin Galactic says it has more than 700 customers on a waiting list, willing to part with as much as $250,000 for the short suborbital trip to the edge of space.

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Investigating crash, NTSB considers safety culture of commercial space flight Part 1

Branson: Space tourism dream lives on

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

"We are determined to know what went wrong and are working closely with authorities to get that information," Branson said Saturday at a press conference in the Mojave Desert, near the site of the accident.

From CNN: 1 dead, 1 injured in SpaceShipTwo test flight failure

Branson continued to express sorrow for the loss of life. But he also addressed a question on many people's mind: Will Virgin continue its space tourism business?

"We're going to learn what went wrong, discover how we can improve safety and performance and then move forward together," Branson said. "Four hundred engineers who work here and most people in the world would love to see the dream living on."

Commercial flights were set to start in 2015.

The Virgin Galactic spaceship that exploded Friday cost nearly $500 million to develop.

Virgin has sold more than 700 tickets to space already, each costing more than $250,000, for future flights. Several celebrities have already signed up, including Justin Bieber, Ashton Kutcher, Leonardo DiCaprio and Stephen Hawking.

Anyone who has bought a ticket and is now nervous about space flight will be able to get a full refund, Branson assured. The company has received more than $80 million from bookings.

The special plane is called SpaceShipTwo, and it was designed to carry six passengers.

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Branson: Space tourism dream lives on

Richard Branson: We owe it to test pilot to continue Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo

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Video will begin in 5 seconds.

A space tourism rocket broke apart in flight over California's Mojave Desert after a device to slow the experimental spaceship's descent deployed too soon.

The Tony Blair grin was gone but Richard Branson was unbowed by disaster when he appeared on American breakfast television on Monday morning.

He vowed his program to hurl paying customers into the sky to enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness at the very edge of space would go ahead despite the disaster that killed test pilot Michael Alsbury high above the MojaveDesert. He owed it to the pilot, he said.

We will continue: Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson has saluted the bravery of test pilots but has also made comments that suggest the crash was the pilots' fault. Photo: AFP

"We owe it to him to continue and that we will do," he told the Today Show host, Matt Lauer.

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Lauer himself homed in on a question many have discussed since the accident. Test flight and space travel has always been dangerous, are the risks worth it when the object is an expensive thrill ride rather than the advancement of science?

"Absolutely it is worth the risks," said Branson without hesitation, adding though that his program was about more than the $200,000 space flight that is being marketed to rich adventurers.

Mid-air breakup: Sheriff's deputies look at a piece of debris near the crash site of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo near Cantil, California. Photo: Reuters

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Richard Branson: We owe it to test pilot to continue Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo


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