Virgin Galactic accused of ignoring warnings SpaceShipTwo was unsafe

Albedo · Nov 1, 2014

I'm suprised we haven't talked about this yet.

Sir Richard Branson's space tourism company Virgin Galactic has been accused of ignoring a series of warnings that its $US500 million rocket was unsafe for flight.

A number of senior aerospace engineers repeatedly voiced fears over the design of Sir Richard's SpaceShipTwo and the safety protocols surrounding its testing.

"Safety has always been our number one priority," says Sir Richard Branson. Photo: Reuters

London's The Sunday Telegraph reported it has seen emails and other documents in the public domain - dating back several years, and as recently as last year - in which the engineers warned of the dangers of Virgin Galactic's rocket engine system.

It also emerged that three senior Virgin Galactic executives - the vice-president in charge of propulsion, the vice-president in charge of safety, and the chief aerodynamics engineer - had all quit the company in recent months.

A couple of interesting issues arise out of this disaster, IMO.

1. The standard narrative is that small, lean commercial operators will make quantum leaps over their hidebound government competitors. This may be so, but for all of the inefficiency of NASA et al, they have well-instituted safety cultures, and have lost few astronauts across hundreds of missions. Virgin Galactic's death count now sits at four (three engineers were killed in an engine explosion in 2007), with very few flights to show for it. How much of that safety culture was ejected to get Virgin Galactic where it is today?

1a. Reading a bit more about their operations, it seems they were rushing to get an untested engine design into service, as investors were getting antsy. And it seems they had been warned by multiple experts that their designs were inherently dangerous. If the allegations are true, it sounds like borderline criminal negligence. Don't expect the bad PR to go away any time soon.

2. What will happen to VG's finances now? Will celebrities and billionaires think twice about booking (and paying large deposits for) flights while their chance of surviving a VG trip seems a bit iffy?

3. What if this had happened on Justin Bieber's maiden space voyage?

Alessandra Kelley · Nov 1, 2014

Are you saying that the private sector is not universally superior to government funded and supervised agencies?

frimble3 · Nov 1, 2014

Alessandra Kelley said:
Are you saying that the private sector is not universally superior to government funded and supervised agencies?

Based on what I heard about NASA and the Challenger 'O' rings, they seem remarkably similar.

blacbird · Nov 1, 2014

Albedo said:
1. The standard narrative is that small, lean commercial operators will make quantum leaps over their hidebound government competitors. This may be so, but for all of the inefficiency of NASA et al, they have well-instituted safety cultures, and have lost few astronauts across hundreds of missions.

"Few astronauts across hundreds of missions"? Virgin has yet to even come close to sending a person into space. Their test record is now under scrutiny, after this latest tragedy. Have they cut corners to hurry up things? Probably. Welcome to the Brave New World of Privatization. NASA doesn't lack guilt in these matters, either; evidence being 17 astronauts dead (the Apollo launchpad capsule fire, and the two space shuttle horrors), all contributed to heavily by human error brought on by pressures to hurry.

Space exploration, we should know by now, isn't the romantic dream of the 1950s. It's hard, expensive and very dangerous stuff, requiring the most stringent of controls. Perhaps Mr. Branson has just now learned that.

caw

cmhbob · Nov 1, 2014

Virgin may not have sent anyone to space, but the concept craft has. And I don't think Branson is at fault here, nor has he "just learned" about the danger. I think the American public forgot about it, and they're just now being reminded of it. How much coverage have you seen of the memorial activities at NASA except on the big anniversaries? But NASA reminds everyone in the agency every year on January 27

blacbird · Nov 2, 2014

I wasn't trying to blame Branson, and I didn't mean my comment to come across that way. I actually admire Richard Branson a great deal. I think he's the kind of brilliant entrepreneur we need a lot more of. But there is a starry-eyed concept current that if we just get government out of the space exploration business and let private business handle it, everything will be just hunkeydorey.

We're now finding reality.

caw

Dennis E. Taylor · Nov 2, 2014

blacbird said:
But there is a starry-eyed concept current that if we just get government out of the space exploration business and let private business handle it, everything will be just hunkeydorey.

We're now finding reality.

caw

There is also a starry-eyed concept that all risk can be removed from an endeavor, and therefore any disasters must be incompetence or negligence.

Devil Ledbetter · Nov 2, 2014

Angry Guy said:
There is also a starry-eyed concept that all risk can be removed from an endeavor, and therefore any disasters must be incompetence or negligence.

Yes. Space travel is inherently dangerous. Wasn't there a huge rocket explosion in Virginia just the other day?

Diana Hignutt · Nov 2, 2014

Devil Ledbetter said:
Yes. Space travel is inherently dangerous. Wasn't there a huge rocket explosion in Virginia just the other day?

Aliens, you think?

where' that history channel alien guy with the goofy hair when you really need him?

Virgin Galactic accused of ignoring warnings SpaceShipTwo was unsafe

Albedo

Alex

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian

frimble3

Heckuva good sport

blacbird

cmhbob

Did...did I do that?

blacbird

Dennis E. Taylor

Get it off! It burns!

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,

Diana Hignutt

Very Tired