- Thread starter Martin
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Prick
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Did they have insurance :don'twantto-see:/
Moments after lifting off at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, the unmanned Antares rocket meant to bring cargo to the International Space Station exploded. This was to be the third commercial resupply mission by Orbital Sciences. The explosion occurred at 6:22 pm EDT on October 28, six seconds after launching.
No injuries or deaths are believed to have occurred because of this failed launch, with all personnel at Wallops safe and accounted for.
NASA officials have described the event as a “catastrophic anomaly” but have not pointed to a cause of explosion yet. NASA reports that the team did not experience any warning signs prior to launch that there would be a problem.
The Cygnus spacecraft atop the rocket was carrying 2290 kg (5050 lbs) of cargo for the International Space Station, including the Arkyd-3 satellite. The launch was scheduled for October 27, but had to be scrubbed at the last minute due to a sail boat downrange of the launch site.
A press conference will be held at 8:30 pm EDT to discuss the preliminary findings of the failed launch.
The rocket was designed by a private contractor (Orbital Space Corp.), not NASA engineers. NASA’s been hiring lots of outsiders lately.
No injuries or deaths are believed to have occurred because of this failed launch, with all personnel at Wallops safe and accounted for.
NASA officials have described the event as a “catastrophic anomaly” but have not pointed to a cause of explosion yet. NASA reports that the team did not experience any warning signs prior to launch that there would be a problem.
The Cygnus spacecraft atop the rocket was carrying 2290 kg (5050 lbs) of cargo for the International Space Station, including the Arkyd-3 satellite. The launch was scheduled for October 27, but had to be scrubbed at the last minute due to a sail boat downrange of the launch site.
A press conference will be held at 8:30 pm EDT to discuss the preliminary findings of the failed launch.
The rocket was designed by a private contractor (Orbital Space Corp.), not NASA engineers. NASA’s been hiring lots of outsiders lately.
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User-E
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A 200 million dollar explosion.
A public school in Kamloops, BC lost their science experiment too.
A public school in Kamloops, BC lost their science experiment too.
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Art Mann
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Hmmm..... most of mine are in the $250 range. :biggrin2:
EACE:bobistheowl
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[h=2]Rocket EXPLODES On Take Off In Virginia [/h]Many of Virginia's clients experience this, which is why she offers MSOG in her eight minute amuse bouche session.
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Al Bumin
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And a payload of Maryland crabcakes! :shout:
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I was thinking about the reaction of the astronauts in the ISS finding out their supplies weren't going to arrive. :SayWhat?:
bobistheowl
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Quite clearly, you have never booked with Virginia. In fact, my post was copy/pasted from her site, with different font, of course. I just left out the photo of Roger Clemens, because I couldn't be bothered typing the url. I was just quoting him, from her review sub page. And he ain't no shill.
You need to stop flushin' that toilet of yours, and meet some of your daughter's friends, especially Emily, and the one with three nipples.
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More bad news for space tourists
Witness: Virgin Galactic space tourism rocket explodes in test flight; 1 dead, officials say
MOJAVE, Calif. - A Virgin Galactic space tourism rocket exploded Friday during a test flight, killing a pilot aboard and seriously injuring another while scattering wreckage in Southern California's Mojave Desert, witnesses and officials said.
The company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson would not say what happened other than that it was working with authorities to determine the cause of the "accident."
"During the test, the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of SpaceShipTwo," Virgin Galactic tweeted.
Ken Brown, a photographer who witnessed the crash, told The Associated Press that SpaceShipTwo exploded after a plane designed to take it to high altitude released it and the craft ignited its rocket motor. Brown said the wreckage fell in the desert north of Mojave Air and Space Port, where the test flight originated. The area is about 120 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.
There is one fatality and one major injury, California Highway Patrol Officer Jesse Borne said. One person parachuted out, he said.
SpaceShipTwo, which is typically flown by two pilots, was designed to provide a suborbital thrill ride into space before it returns to Earth as a glider. Friday's flight marked the 55th for the spaceship, which was intended to be the first of a line of craft that would open space to paying civilians. At 60 feet long, SpaceShipTwo features two large windows for each of up to six passengers, one on the side and one overhead.
Virgin Galactic — owned by Branson's Virgin Group and Aabar Investments PJS of Abu Dhabi — sells seats on each prospective journey for $250,000, with full payment due at the time of booking. The company says that "future astronauts," as it calls customers, have visited Branson's Caribbean home, Necker Island, and gone through G-force training.
Stephen Hawking, Justin Bieber, Ashton Kutcher and Russell Brand are among the celebrities to sign up for flights. Virgin Galactic reports taking deposits totalling more than $80 million from about 700 people.
A related venture, The Spaceship Co., is responsible for building Virgin Galactic's space vehicles.
During testing for the development of a rocket motor for SpaceShipTwo in July 2007, an explosion at the Mojave spaceport killed three workers and critically injured three others. A California Division of Occupational Safety and Health report said the blast occurred three seconds after the start of a cold-flow test of nitrous oxide — commonly known as laughing gas — which is used in the propulsion system of SpaceShipTwo. The engine was not firing during that test.
Friday's accident was the second space-related explosion this week. On Tuesday, an unmanned commercial supply rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded moments after liftoff from a launch site in Virginia. No injuries were reported that accident, which drew criticism over NASA's growing reliance on private U.S. companies in this post-shuttle era.
Virgin Galactic planned to launch space tourism flights from the quarter-billion-dollar Spaceport America in southern New Mexico once it finishes developing its rocket ship.
Christine Anderson, executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, did not want to comment on the events unfolding Friday in the California desert or what effect they might have on Spaceport America and the future of commercial space travel.
Virgin Galactic is in line to be the main tenant at the spaceport that was built specifically to launch paying customers into space, a dream of Branson's. His company has repeated pushed back the timetable for when the $250,000 flights were to begin, pointing to delays in development and testing of the rocket ship.
Taxpayers footed the bill to build the state-of-the-art hangar and runway in a remote stretch of desert in southern New Mexico as part of a plan devised by Branson and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Critics have long challenged the state's investment, questioning whether flights would ever get off the ground.
SpaceShipTwo is based on aerospace design maverick Burt Rutan's award-winning SpaceShipOne prototype, which became the first privately financed manned rocket to reach space in 2004.
Commercial development has been slower than expected. When Virgin Group licensed the technology from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who funded about $26 million for SpaceShipOne, Branson envisioned operating flights by 2007.
Witness: Virgin Galactic space tourism rocket explodes in test flight; 1 dead, officials say
MOJAVE, Calif. - A Virgin Galactic space tourism rocket exploded Friday during a test flight, killing a pilot aboard and seriously injuring another while scattering wreckage in Southern California's Mojave Desert, witnesses and officials said.
The company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson would not say what happened other than that it was working with authorities to determine the cause of the "accident."
"During the test, the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of SpaceShipTwo," Virgin Galactic tweeted.
Ken Brown, a photographer who witnessed the crash, told The Associated Press that SpaceShipTwo exploded after a plane designed to take it to high altitude released it and the craft ignited its rocket motor. Brown said the wreckage fell in the desert north of Mojave Air and Space Port, where the test flight originated. The area is about 120 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.
There is one fatality and one major injury, California Highway Patrol Officer Jesse Borne said. One person parachuted out, he said.
SpaceShipTwo, which is typically flown by two pilots, was designed to provide a suborbital thrill ride into space before it returns to Earth as a glider. Friday's flight marked the 55th for the spaceship, which was intended to be the first of a line of craft that would open space to paying civilians. At 60 feet long, SpaceShipTwo features two large windows for each of up to six passengers, one on the side and one overhead.
Virgin Galactic — owned by Branson's Virgin Group and Aabar Investments PJS of Abu Dhabi — sells seats on each prospective journey for $250,000, with full payment due at the time of booking. The company says that "future astronauts," as it calls customers, have visited Branson's Caribbean home, Necker Island, and gone through G-force training.
Stephen Hawking, Justin Bieber, Ashton Kutcher and Russell Brand are among the celebrities to sign up for flights. Virgin Galactic reports taking deposits totalling more than $80 million from about 700 people.
A related venture, The Spaceship Co., is responsible for building Virgin Galactic's space vehicles.
During testing for the development of a rocket motor for SpaceShipTwo in July 2007, an explosion at the Mojave spaceport killed three workers and critically injured three others. A California Division of Occupational Safety and Health report said the blast occurred three seconds after the start of a cold-flow test of nitrous oxide — commonly known as laughing gas — which is used in the propulsion system of SpaceShipTwo. The engine was not firing during that test.
Friday's accident was the second space-related explosion this week. On Tuesday, an unmanned commercial supply rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded moments after liftoff from a launch site in Virginia. No injuries were reported that accident, which drew criticism over NASA's growing reliance on private U.S. companies in this post-shuttle era.
Virgin Galactic planned to launch space tourism flights from the quarter-billion-dollar Spaceport America in southern New Mexico once it finishes developing its rocket ship.
Christine Anderson, executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, did not want to comment on the events unfolding Friday in the California desert or what effect they might have on Spaceport America and the future of commercial space travel.
Virgin Galactic is in line to be the main tenant at the spaceport that was built specifically to launch paying customers into space, a dream of Branson's. His company has repeated pushed back the timetable for when the $250,000 flights were to begin, pointing to delays in development and testing of the rocket ship.
Taxpayers footed the bill to build the state-of-the-art hangar and runway in a remote stretch of desert in southern New Mexico as part of a plan devised by Branson and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Critics have long challenged the state's investment, questioning whether flights would ever get off the ground.
SpaceShipTwo is based on aerospace design maverick Burt Rutan's award-winning SpaceShipOne prototype, which became the first privately financed manned rocket to reach space in 2004.
Commercial development has been slower than expected. When Virgin Group licensed the technology from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who funded about $26 million for SpaceShipOne, Branson envisioned operating flights by 2007.
