Comments on: More bad space news: Explosion at Scaled Composites site

By: Chris Lintott’s Universe » Take flight

Chris Lintott’s Universe » Take flight — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 08:48:10 +0000

[…] on Friday morning, I wrote what I hope was a fair summary of the explosion as based on the news on Phil’s Bad Astronomy blog, along with the then breaking news of space station sabotage and drunken astronauts. While […]

By: Maurice

Maurice — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:30:07 +0000

Sad days are ahead for all pioneers as they are a part of the legacy of every pioneering effort. To pioneer is to risk for the sake of great gain. This is not judgment, just fact. And when it happens we taje a step back, glean the lessons of the event, learn and adapt to not repeat the error(s) of the recent event. So it was with ocean vessels rounding the Horn, with hot air balloonists and those building on the Wrights’ first flights; with fanjet powered craft in the 30’s and 40’s; with rocketships taking us to the edge of space from the 40’s-60’s; and so on.
Rutan’s group might be congratulated for going this far without a major incident, much farther than NASA did. Of course Rutan benefited from NASA’s mistakes of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s to the present: Mercury Redstone explosions; Apollo 1-fire that burned three alive in a pure O2 enviornment; Apollo 13, etc. Spaceflight is no mere cruise around the farmlands on a Sunday afternoon. Tragedies like this awaken us to this reality, reminding us that we are not as smart as we think, and that if we lose focus, that the perils of spaceflight will jump up and bite us. It is that much more alarming and dismaying to think that astronauts may have launched while impaired by pre-flight drunkenness.

By: Will. M

Will. M — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 21:34:02 +0000

I just found this on BBC News: “Nasa astronauts ‘drunk on duty’
US space shuttle takes off
It is not clear if the incidents occurred on space shuttles
US astronauts were cleared to fly while drunk at least twice, a review panel set up by space agency Nasa has found.”
The NYT has the full story here as well: nytimes.com/2007/07/27/us/27cnd.astro.html?ex=13431.
WHAT in the hell is going on with NASA?

By: John B. Sandlin

John B. Sandlin — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 16:39:31 +0000

I’m saddened by any such incident, but as a many year fan of Scaled Composites I am doubly so. We should all take a moment to remember all the pioneers in space exploration that have lost their lives or health in the pursuit. Finally, we need to take a look at what went wrong, learn from it, and move forward when we can.

By: Brian T.

Brian T. — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 16:09:23 +0000

It sort of echoes the Apollo 1 crew, doesn’t it? Very sad. Still, everyone involved with spaceflight knows the risks involved with what they do. I think ultimately this will only spur them on.

Hats off to everyone at Scaled Composites.

By: MichaelS

MichaelS — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:22:02 +0000

According to CNN, a 3rd person died today, with 2 others in critical condition at the hospital and 1 other in serious condition.

By: AndreasB

AndreasB — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:03:35 +0000

So CNN says 2 dead, 4 injured, but LA Times says 3 dead, 3 injured. Seems one of the injured has died in hospital.