Ford Neild 11/3/14
Earth Science IH Ms.McClellan
PASZTOR, ANDY. "NTSB Cites Improper Pilot Command in Virgin Galactic Crash." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 02 Nov. 2014. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.
Over the past 15 years many space exploration companies have attempted to commercialize space travel. Many observers predicted that commercial space travel would be a reality as soon as 2025. However, two recent space craft disasters, including the failure of the highly anticipated Virgin Galactic rocket ship, prompt questions about the future of commercial space travel. Additional private investments for commercial space programs are likely being rethought, and potentially discontinued in the future. The recent Virgin Galactic failure left one co-pilot dead, while the other miraculously survived and is currently hospitalized. The exact details of how the failure occurred are unknown, however it is speculated that the ship's tail control surfaces, also known as feathers, were prematurely deployed due to pilot error. Video footage from inside the ship was reviewed, apparently showing that only one control leaver (of the two required) was pushed. At present, pilot error is the primary theory for why this spacecraft failed. But if the crash occurred for structural reasons that require a major overhaul, the Virgin space program will likely suffer significant fiscal costs and time delays.. This disaster, along with the recent Orbital Space Corp. cargo ship failure, has quite possibly pushed back the time table for private space exploration.
Virgin Galactic had originally planned to begin privatized space travel in late 2008, but there have been repeated delays and program setbacks that have delayed their launch date. According to space history expert Howard McCurdy,"Launching rockets and other space craft is always very risky business and no amount of ground tests can duplicate aerodynamic stresses and other conditions of actual space flight." Recent events appear to corroborate Mr. McCurdy's views. Sir Richard Branson, the chief executive of Virgin Galactic, has assured the public that his craft, SpaceShipTwo, is safe, having successfully passed ground and air safety tests. As a result, Sir Branson has asserted that this crash should not discourage the privatization of space travel. Another space exploration official attempted to put this event in perspective, stating "It's clearly bad news for commercial space, but from the beginning people recognized a fatal event on some space ship was inevitable."
This article, summarized above, was well written and authoritative, providing perspectives and quotations from many credible people in the field of space travel. The article's primary weakness was that it failed to provide the reader with sufficient background information and insight into past attempts at commercial space travel, as most readers lack significant context and expertise in this field. To improve this article, Andy Pisztor, could have added information about the Orbital Space Corp. launch failure and inserted a quote from an opposing view point as most quotes say essentially the same thing and a quotation from NASA could have been interesting.
Tripp Judkins 11/4/14
ReplyDeleteEarth Science Current Event Comments
Comment #1
Your current event article, Improper Pilot Command in Virgin Galactic Crash, was very interesting. One thing you did very well was the background information about the topic. I had no idea about the attempts of companies to make commercial space airline. Another thing you did well was criticizing the article. An example of this is by including multiple views of the people in the article. The final thing you did well was stating if a nasa quote was included if would be better because it would contain an opposing view point.
I learned many things from your article. One thing I learned about was commercial space airlines. According to the article, for the past 15 years major companies attempted to go to space with a commercial airline.Another thing I learned about was the Virgin Galactic Crash. Before reading this current event, I had no idea what caused the crash. Now I know that the feathers of the spacecraft were deployed too early.
There is one thing you could of done better. The one thing you could of done better was the explanation of the inclusion of the NASA quote. You didn't explain what the NASA quote would say. You also could talk about what NASA point of view would be. Besides that, This was a great current event article about an important topic in today’s world.