This is what happens when you privatize something that should be done by a well-funded government agency.

Corners get cut. We went from being the most advanced organization in the world, sending people to the moon with calculators to fast forward 45 years later, we are now behind the capabilities of our inferior competitors from 1969. Our space program is pretty much on par with North Korea's despite relatively infinite computing power and the technological capabilities to do who knows what, we have neutered our own capabilities through lack of funding.

One of the many disappointing facts surrounding the decline of America.

10/31/2014 5:22:42 PM

Fuck you.

10/31/2014 5:49:34 PM

There is a valid point in feeling that we have slid backwards, but that doesn't mean we should give up either. I feel we will get there, but this transition is obviously going to be a lot tougher than first anticipated. I don't think anyone involved in these programs wants to quit either.

10/31/2014 7:22:26 PM

This is just the wrong model. No one is going to quit because there is money to be made. Within 20 tears, cnsa will easily surpass us and the world will view it in the same image it once viewed nasa.

10/31/2014 8:40:57 PM

ok troll go away.

11/1/2014 4:09:02 PM

Quote :

"smc All American 9145 Posts user info edit post Does Spaceshiptwo have any reasonable abort options? Seems silly to sit six feet from an engine that's already killed three. If it starts tumbling bad enough at the apogee it would just rip itself apart, or stall out and plummet as it has already has in tests. Perhaps some sort of cabin ejection with a heat shield? At the very least a ballistic chute in case the wings don't lock back again at low altitude? The government needs to step in and prevent Virgin from killing more people. [Edited on September 4, 2014 at 9:09 PM. Reason : lol jk it's not really spaceflight.] 9/4/2014 9:06:07 PM"

It didn't have any ejection seats. Pilots and passengers are expected to open the little door in the floor and jump out one at a time in an orderly fashion. At mach 5 and 100km up. (so really only during stable glide at low altitudes). The pilot, pictured here, got lucky in that the thing disintegrated around him and his parachute AAD went off while he was unconscious.



At least on spaceshipone the pilot could kick the entire nosecone off(explosive bolts?) and let himself be flung out. That was pretty shady too though and probably wouldn't have worked.


This is a great photo, by the way. It seems the empennages were blown off and the airplane split in half in midair. Where Branson is sitting landed intact with the tanks, I think. So Pete Siebold probably fell out backwards, seat and all, just like he's sitting in the photo. Ironically, that escape hatch was probably weakest part of the structure that allowed it to rip in half. He's reported to have serious shoulder injuries, which would be consistent with being slammed against or through the left cockpit wall as he sat in the captains chair.
http://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-091204-spaceshiptwo/ss-091204-spaceshiptwo-08.ss_full.JPG

[Edited on November 1, 2014 at 9:06 PM. Reason : .]

11/1/2014 8:46:55 PM

I know they had plans for a fleet of these. Was there already more than one, or was this one that blew up currently the only one?

11/1/2014 11:33:27 PM

2nd one is under construction and according to press releases is like 60% done

[Edited on November 1, 2014 at 11:44 PM. Reason : a]

11/1/2014 11:44:08 PM

I see. Thanks.

11/2/2014 12:05:33 AM

I watched the Black Sky documentary all over again. This was an unfortunate comment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyBg8UfTdA8&list=UUuHenmRzw0WeEj3qw2RT5wQ&t=35m27s

11/2/2014 1:35:48 PM

CNN is reporting the feathering system for the descent may have deployed during the ascent leading to the breakup.

11/3/2014 7:36:46 AM

saw that on Fox News too.

11/3/2014 7:59:04 AM

http://spaceflightnow.com/2014/11/03/virgin-galactic-rocket-plane-deployed-braking-system-prematurely/

11/3/2014 8:30:49 AM

They've had lots of problems with servos and switches and breakers failing because of the high g forces. On one flight all of their instruments quit working entirely and on another the stabilator jammed all the way up. I'm not sure these kit plane parts and cable controls are up to the task.

But kudos to them for announcing that the dead pilot armed the switch. It's never too early to blame a victim.

[Edited on November 3, 2014 at 9:56 AM. Reason : .]

11/3/2014 9:55:05 AM

I know its not manned but havent seen any posts on this and this is actually a pretty big deal in my opinion.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/10/world/philae-comet-lander/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Definitely hoping they pull it off as I have been following this mission for a while. Even if the lander fails they have still sent back some pretty incredible images and I would call the mission a success.

11/10/2014 10:07:48 AM

Yes! I'm excited about it... would only be the 7th body in our solar system (besides earth) humans have landed anything on.
(previously landed on The Moon, Mars, Venus, Titan, two asteroids)

11/10/2014 10:31:26 AM

11/10/2014 12:19:14 PM

So much going on with the landings people are making recently have been very impressive. Sure hope they can pull this off I know they have given it a 70% chance of success which may be a bit optimistic. Not quite like a planet with how much rotation and lack of gravity this thing has.

11/10/2014 1:50:59 PM

http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/11/rosetta-to-launch-comet-lander-late-tonight/

coverage going on now

330am EST is when separation is happening, with touchdown expected about 10-11am.

11/11/2014 8:09:49 PM

great. i'll be in a damn meeting at that time ugh.

11/11/2014 8:11:12 PM

reading on r/space there might be a problem with the landing thruster... which would make it much more challenging to attach to the surface.

11/12/2014 7:18:20 AM

lander manager Stephan Ulamec says:

"We will have to rely fully on the harpoons at touchdown," because the cold gas thruster on top of the lander is not working.

11/12/2014 10:32:02 AM

So things have become much more difficult now gonna have one shot with those harpoons or it may simply bounce off

11/12/2014 10:43:39 AM

Any minute now...

11/12/2014 10:54:44 AM

Success!

11/12/2014 11:04:12 AM

nasa feed sucks

i assume we did but they need some commentary on what alls going on.

11/12/2014 11:06:02 AM

lots of initial cheers. now back to serious mode.

11/12/2014 11:07:27 AM

saying something now

11/12/2014 11:08:27 AM

Historic.

11/12/2014 11:12:33 AM

Awesome! Wonder the difficulty compared to the sky crane landing on Mars.

11/12/2014 11:14:38 AM

^ Agreed. That was awesome to watch.

11/12/2014 11:15:44 AM

EUROPE HARPOONS COMET

11/12/2014 11:16:25 AM

We're never gonna use this shit

-every science undergrad ever

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

11/12/2014 11:16:27 AM

11/12/2014 11:24:55 AM

As posted it looks to be successful with data being transmitted back. Congrats to the ESA! It is good to see some are still making progress in space exploration.

11/12/2014 11:31:07 AM

Sounds more impressive when you realize just how long ago the actual spacecraft and mission was designed

11/12/2014 11:32:52 AM

Hmm saying the anchors didn't fire so while it did land no promise it won't be ejected at a later time. Hope they can try to refire again those seem important

11/12/2014 11:44:54 AM

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/11/12/363492519/comet-landing-european-craft-due-to-make-contact-today

After analyzing telemetry data from the Philae lander, ESA says it seems that the craft's harpoons didn't fire as first thought.

Adding that the lander is in "great shape," the agency says its engineers are looking into options for retrying the harpoon operation, which is meant to secure the craft to the comet's surface.

In a tweet, the agency says the lander "made a fairly gentle touch down on #67P based on amount of landing gear damping."

11/12/2014 12:10:24 PM

lots of unknowns right now. the celebration might have been premature.

11/12/2014 12:15:54 PM

11/12/2014 1:34:16 PM

Quote :

"It is good to see some are still making progress in space exploration."

New Horizons will get to Pluto in 8 months.

[Edited on November 12, 2014 at 1:43 PM. Reason : .]

11/12/2014 1:43:31 PM

11/12/2014 2:09:59 PM

Quote :

""So maybe, today, we didn't just land once... we landed twice""

11/12/2014 2:26:29 PM

11/12/2014 5:24:07 PM

A lot of conspiracy theories anout a coverup of this mossion being to keep the comet from hitting earth. Would be even more badass if that were true but its the internet.

11/12/2014 5:54:54 PM

Quote :

"@Philae_ROMAP magnetic field analysis revealed 3 landings at 15:33, 17:26 and 17:33 UTC"

looks like there was quite a bit of bouncing.

11/12/2014 8:18:42 PM

a 113-minute long bounce!?!?

11/12/2014 8:23:26 PM

VERY low gravity on this comet (as in if we were there we wouldn't feel anything resembling gravity.)

11/12/2014 8:26:22 PM

Did the anchors fire on the final landing?

Flyin Ryan your are correct, I forgot about New Horizons. I hope we eventually get a probe to Europa. That could be real interesting in terms of the search for life.

11/12/2014 9:01:55 PM

^http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/11/sls-manifest-europa-mars-sample-return-missions/

11/12/2014 9:38:43 PM