On a sobering edition of Talking Space, the team gathers to discuss the loss of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two on 31 October, 2014 over the skies of the Mojave Desertin California. The ill fated test flight of the VSS Enterprise left the pilot, Peter Siebold,hospitalized and sadly took the life of it's co-pilot Michael Alsbury. The acting administrator of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Christopher A. Hart released some intriguing information during a late night 2 November Press conference that may be the first piece of the puzzle in determining the cause of the accident. Mark Ratterman offers additional insight into how the NTSB painstakingly conducts an accident investigation.
The team then focuses back to the Eastern Shore of Virginia and discusses the information released by Orbital Sciences CEO David Thompson during an investor call on 29 October concerning the failure of the Antares launch vehicle and the loss of the ORB3 Cargo Mission to the International Space Station. The ORB3 Cargo mission was launched on 28 October and disappeared into a fireball over the skies of Virginia's Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport. The Cygnus cargo ship, Donald K Slayton, was to have docked with the orbiting platform on 2 November. The team discusses was known about the accident on the record date.
Scaled Composites has set up an on line fund to help the family of Michael Alsbury, the pilot lost in the SpaceShipTwo accident. If you wish to contribute visit the GoFundMe site at this link
Show recorded 11/3/2014
Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gene Mikulka, Mark Ratterman, Kathryn "Kat" Robison and Kassy Tamanini aka Craft Lass
Episode 1504: Space Debris Risks – Perception vs. Reality With a Little Human Nature Thrown In
Episode 1503: Of Spaceplanes and Starships
Episode 1502: 50-50 and More
Episode 1501: New Season, New Era
Episode 1407: The ”Endurance” of Commercial Crew
Episode 1406: Launchapalooza
Episode 1405: Launch Weather for the Win(d)
Episode 1404: A New Era in Commercial Space
Episode 1403: The First Four Miles to the Lunar Surface
Episode 1402: The Heavens Above, The Troubles Below
Episode 1401: Rockets and Future Visions
Episode 1306: Zero-G and I Feel Fine - Mission: Astro Access
Episode 1305: Space is Open for Business
Episode 1304: Billionaire Battle?
Episode 1303: Rocket Roulette
Episode 1302: Turn it Up to SN-11
Episode 1301: Three Cheers for Mars
Episode 1207: Farewell 2020
Episode 1206: All For One, Crew-1 For All
Episode 1205: "Scrubtember" Leads to "Grabtober"
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