The Virgin Galactic Crash and the Risks of Space Tourism

[Buster's Uncle]

The Virgin Galactic Crash and the Risks of Space Tourism
BusinessWeek
By Justin Bachman    October 31, 2014



Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo at a Virgin Galactic hangar at Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California Photograph by Reed Saxon/AP Photo



Sir Richard Branson has touted Virgin Galactic’s space flights as an adventure unlike anything else. “In the silent tranquility of space,” he intones during a soaring promotional video, “you will experience weightlessness and views of our beautiful planet that will change your perception of life.” Safety is mentioned, but not specific risks.

A fatal crash on Friday of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo will move safety concerns into the discussion about space tourism. The accident raises new questions about the oversight U.S. regulators exert in the nascent field, where at least three major companies are hoping to make space tourism commercially viable. Elon Musk’s SpaceX seeks to make space travel routine—and become a key player in the colonization of Mars—while Amazon (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin is researching technologies to make private space travel more affordable. Hotel titan Robert Bigelow is aiming to develop large living modules for space tourism and research.

The Virgin Galactic crash happened in Kern County, Calif., at a location north of Edwards Air Force Base and inside the Mojave Desert. The Associated Press reported that the craft exploded after it was released from the aircraft that carries it to a high altitude. The co-pilot was killed and the pilot was injured, Bloomberg News reported. The company was testing a new type of rocket fuel on Friday, according to media reports.

Virgin Galactic charges $250,000 for a ticket to space and says it has already collected more than $80 million from about 700 would-be space tourists. It has not yet sent any tourists into space.

The accident comes three days after a private rocket ferrying supplies and science experiments to the International Space Station suffered a malfunction and was destroyed 20 seconds after launch. No one was injured in that incident, although it is likely to delay Orbital Science’s (ORB) future flights for NASA.

Richard Branson        ✔   @richardbranson 
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Thoughts with all @virgingalactic & Scaled, thanks for all your messages of support. I'm flying to Mojave immediately to be with the team.

4:04 PM - 31 Oct 2014

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Amid the excitement space entrepreneurs bring to their endeavors—and few are as skilled as Branson at injecting glamour into a business venture—it’s fair to ask whether the enormous risks inherent in space flight have been adequately given their due. Rockets are volatile and complex, as the history of fatal accidents in both the U.S. and Russian space program shows all too well. The companies attract top scientists and engineering talent, but should government oversight have a role in the development process before a private space firm begins seeking U.S. approvals for flights? That has not been publicly considered to any major degree so far.

The ship was built by Scaled Composites, a company founded by Burt Rutan, who won a $10 million Ansari X prize a decade ago for building a manned spacecraft—SpaceShipOne—that could be reused for flight. Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Paul Allen financed the project.

SpaceShipTwo -- First Rocket-Powered, Supersonic Test Flight [HD]

SpaceShipTwo is 60 feet long and built to carry six passengers and two pilots. It is flown to roughly 50,000 feet by a jet called WhiteKnightTwo and then released, at which point its rocket engine propels the spacecraft at 3.5 times the speed of sound to as high as 62 miles in about 90 seconds. Virgin Galactic says customers will have views 1,000 miles in each direction and then glide to a landing at Spaceport America in New Mexico.


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