Virgin Galactic crash: Branson vows to continue space project

[Margaret]

I always thought this to be an ill-fated project.




http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29861259

[rebbonk]

If I were Dickie boy, I'd be wanting to understand what went wrong before making statements like that.

[Margaret]

I wonder how the deceased family think about all this.
The French have a phrase for this, and it's called Folie de Grandeur.
Clearly our knight is approaching, or if not at the stage of being certified.

The other thing that occurs to me is that Branson is trying to get into the Howard Hughes stakes, but to be honest about this , he has nowhere near the talent or experience necessary to make these experimental crafts. Hughes was a genius who founded a huge aeronautical business. Fare enough, he did go mad in the end. He built a revolutionary boat plane called the Spruce Goose, and also flew it successfully.

Does Branson feel like going up in his experimental craft, as opposed to see it flying in fantasy land on a computer.

[Margaret]

Rocket scientists and space flight experts say they have worried for years over the safety of Virgin Galactic
Head of an international space safety group said explosion was inevitable after group snubbed industry findings
Virgin reportedly ignored invitations to industry events and was 'secretive' about their procedures
Senior staff in charge of the private space line's safety, aerodynamics and propulsion quit in 2014
Richard Branson denied that any warnings had been missed and said company was cooperating with investigation.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2817421/The-explosion-not-surprise-Russian-roulette-scientists-repeatedly-warned-Virgin-Galactic-safety-issues-revealed-THREE-Branson-s-engineers-recently-quit.html#ixzz3Hz4pH12o
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook






The premier space agency in the world is NASA. Is Branson completely insane thinking he can rival them and put other lives at risk. It is interesting that NASA doesn't really pursue manned flights anymore and is concentrating on remote mechanical devices like the one it put up on Mars.


Sorry, but who want's to spend a fortune just to go up in a spacecraft just to spend an hour and come back again, there is nothing to see, exept distant planets perhaps. If that's what the rich do with their money, then good luck to them. I don't see how this kind of enterprise can benefit anyone.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2817421/The-explosion-not-surprise-Russian-roulette-scientists-repeatedly-warned-Virgin-Galactic-safety-issues-revealed-THREE-Branson-s-engineers-recently-quit.html

[rebbonk]

Branson has always 'flown by the seat of his pants', looks like he might have made a boo-boo this time.

Whilst I'm the first to accept that conventional wisdom isn't always right, you do need to fully understand any risks you are taking. I suspect that the secrecy was all down to the fact that if new ideas were proven, there was money to be made from further commercial exploitation?