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Month: October 2014
SpaceShipTwo Reactions

Comments from Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic “This is a very tough time for all of us at Virgin Galactic, The Spaceship Company and Scaled Composites, and our thoughts remain with the families of the brave Scaled pilots, and all those affected by this tragedy. We are determined to find out what went wrong and are working with the authorities to get that information. It is too early […]

  • NASA Watch
  • October 31, 2014
Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Lost In Accident

#SpaceShipTwo has experienced an in-flight anomaly. Additional info and statement forthcoming. — Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) October 31, 2014 Marc’s note: According to CNN, SpaceShipTwo’s engine started and ran for a few seconds but then stopped. It then restarted and exploded. One pilot managed to eject and use his parachute. The other apparently was not able to to eject and deploy his parachute. FAA Statement on SpaceShipTwo Incident “Just after 10 […]

  • NASA Watch
  • October 31, 2014
Looking at ORB-3 Antares Telemetry

Orbital’s Statement Regarding Orb-3 Launch Mishap (UPDATE) “Telemetry data has been released to Orbital and our engineers presented a very quick look assessment to the Accident Investigation Board at the end of the day. It appears the Antares vehicle had a nominal pre-launch and launch sequence with no issues noted. All systems appeared to be performing nominally until approximately T+15 seconds at which point the failure occurred. Evidence suggests the […]

  • NASA Watch
  • October 30, 2014
Beth Robinson Heads to ALPA

ALPA Names Dr. Elizabeth Robinson as Its New Chief Financial Officer “Today, the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) announced that Elizabeth Robinson, PhD, will be joining the Association as director of Finance and chief financial officer (CFO) on November 3, 2014. Robinson will lead ALPA’s finance team. Robinson comes to ALPA from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where she held the position of CFO since 2009. “Having […]

  • NASA Watch
  • October 30, 2014
Haven't I Seen That Spacecraft Before?

Keith’s note: I was immediately struck by the similarity of this image (much larger uncropped version) that Lockheed Martin released today of Orion and a shot from the iconic “2001: A Space Odyssey”. Or maybe I am just thinking a little bit to much about “2001” as I prepare to see “Interstellar” next week. Orion Is Complete, Lochkeed Martin “NASA and Lockheed Martin have completed final assembly and testing of […]

  • NASA Watch
  • October 30, 2014
Are Old Engines Good For New Rockets?

40-Year-Old Russian Engine at Heart of Rocket Investigation “The thing to keep in mind in all this is that we don’t know what caused the mishap,” Cowing cautions. “We all saw the explosion at the bottom of the rocket, but that doesn’t mean anything. These investigations take time, and sometimes we don’t even end up with all the answers.” Did Soviet-era engines doom Antares?, Mad Science Innovation “Not that older […]

  • NASA Watch
  • October 30, 2014
Wallops Damage Report

Wallops Completes Initial Assessment after Orbital Launch Mishap “The Wallops Incident Response Team completed an initial assessment Wednesday of Wallops Island, Virginia, following the catastrophic failure of Orbital Science Corp.’s Antares rocket shortly after liftoff Tuesday from Pad 0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.”

  • NASA Watch
  • October 29, 2014
Asteroid Redirect Mission Critique

Human spaceflight: Find asteroids to get to Mars “Some options are better than others. The cost and complexity of human space exploration demands that each element be measured by its value towards the ultimate goal: Mars. But NASA’s stated next priority will not contribute to that aim. Its Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM)2 is a multibillion-dollar stunt to retrieve part of an asteroid and bring it close to Earth where astronauts […]

  • NASA Watch
  • October 29, 2014