Earth Science D-Odd
Raquel Guzman
Current Event Quarter I
11/3/14
Citation:
Chang, Kenneth, and John Schwartz. "Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Crashes in New Setback for Commercial Spaceflight." The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 Oct. 2014. Web. 3 Nov. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/01/science/virgin-galactics-spaceshiptwo-crashes-during-test-flight.html?ref=science>.
For this current event report I read the article,“Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Crashes in New Setback for Commercial Spaceflight,” by Kenneth Chang and John Schwartz. It talks about Virgin Galactic’s ship, SpaceShipTwo, and its recent crash in the Mojave Desert. SpaceShipTwo was a rocket plane created by Virgin Galactic and was intended to provide future space tours from about $200,000 to around $250,000. Popular celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Angelina Jolie already had reserved seats in hope of being able to participate in a space tour next spring. Everything had been going as planned as WhiteKnightTwo, another one of Virgin Galactic’s planes, proceeded to carry SpaceShipTwo off the ground. Shortly after WhiteKnightTwo released SpaceShipTwo, SpaceShipTwo’s motor ignited and the plane proceeded to crash. Of the two pilots on board, only one survived after parachuting from the plane, but with major injuries. “I knew something was wrong,” says Stuart Witt, Chief of Mojave Air and Spaceport,“I didn’t know what. It wasn’t obvious at first.” This was not the only time that SpaceShipTwo has ignited. Out of 55 flight tests it has ignited a total of four times, this includes the crash on this past Friday on October 31. It also discusses possible factors that may have led to the crash. This included a new plastic based fuel and a new motor.
If Virgin Galactic or other space tourism companies would be able to create successful non-malfunctioning planes/ships, and the average person would be able to experience what it is and what it means to travel to space. Imagine what it would be like to be able to go to space for a school field trip. The possibilities are endless. The world as we know it would drastically change. Not only can it be used for leisure and learning but also for other uses such as transportation. Sadly, very few of these programs and companies exist and are extremely expensive. Crashes like this only push back future progress and delays this process.
Overall the article was very well written but I was left with a few unanswered questions by the end like why did the company continue to use a malfunctioning design after seeing major problems? This concerns me especially because there are people controlling these planes. If these were remotely controlled it would be a lot safer. It also concerns me since tons of money is being spent on SpaceShipTwo and after seeing what happened last Friday, I believe the money would be better to be spent on other projects.
Raquel's report is really well written and was interesting read. I had heard about how celebrities had been purchasing tickets to go to space, but I wasn’t aware of the problems that were occurring. She did a good job connecting the article with real life. It would be so cool if they could further this project and make trips with ordinary people to space. I found your discussion of the article to be very interesting. I liked how you included how celebrities are currently buying tickets to go into space. I am confused though on why they are paying for this trip even though there have been failures in the project. Although the ratio of crashes to the amount of flight tests is not that large it still seems quite dangerous. She did a really good job on stating what the article said and concluding the main ideas and points. I really enjoyed reading and learning about the article she read about.
ReplyDeleteHer introduction to the rocket planes in the beginning and then quickly connecting the planes with the death of a pilot really brought me into the article. Since you mentioned the famous people wanting to participate in this travel, I quickly matched danger with trip and the people paying tons of money to be in contact with a situation that has the possibility of death. I also liked how she included the quote from the article. She did a good job of blending it into her writing.
In future current events, I would suggest her to go more in detail with the mission and where experts are now going on this topic. I am curious on what was the possible reasons for the crash are and how are they going to fix these problems. Overall, she did a great job!
Raquel's report was very well analyzed, and was very eye-catching. I did not know that celebrities had bought tickets and reserved seats which I found very interesting because it showed that this plane was going to be a bit more technologically advanced as it was going to show regular people how it feels like to be in space. I found it surprising how scientists are still allowing the plane to fly even though is has ignited 4 times previously. They should have done further research before sending real people in it. I found the whole idea of making a plane that could give somebody a once in a life time experience was very thought out. Overall, I found this article very interesting.
ReplyDeleteOne thing the Raquel presented well was her critique on the author, and what she thought could have improved, or emphasized. Another thing would be how she included real things the pilots said before they were going to crash, which gave the reader an insight about what was going on and what the pilots were feeling.
Raquel did a great job on this article, however, I agree with Ellie, and think that she could have added a bit more detail about what the factors were that caused the crash of the plane, and what is the future of this plane going to be? Overall, Raquel did a great job.
Raquel did a great job on her current event report. She did a great job on summarizing the article she read and giving background information. I was not aware that celebrities were buying tickets and reserving seats or about the technical difficulties they were facing. I think the idea of average people getting the opportunity to travel into space is a great idea, and I hope this will happen one day without all of these malfunctions.
ReplyDeleteI thought Raquel did an excellent job on summarizing the article. I also thought she dud a great job including quotes that were said by the pilots, like Natascha said.
The only suggestion I have for Raquel is to maybe find a way to grab the reader's attention in the beginning instead of just stating the name of the article she read. Other than that, Raquel did a wonderful job!
In general, I found Raquel’s current event to be very interesting. Her details in the space project were one of many things I thought she did well on. For example, stating how much the trip to space would cost and listing some factors which could have caused the failure to the project made the current event more detailed. I also found adding a quote from one of the survivors of the project made the current event better and more interesting. It gives the reader a feeling of what one of the pilots experienced by being on the project. I found Raquel’s connection of the project to us also to be well done. I really was pulled into the current event when Raquel mentioned that if we can provide a space project that could have an average every day person go into space, then maybe someday there will be a school trip into space.
ReplyDeleteBefore I read this, I had no idea that there was a project going on where two celebrities would have a chance to go into space on the space ship 2. I also never realized that there might be an invention in the near future where average citizens can go into space.
Raquel did a good job on the current event, but one thing that could have made it better, was to provide information on any other upcoming space projects.
Things done well by the reviewer include use of formal writing language, asking important questions that were not answered in the article, and figuring out the impact a project like this could have on life as we know it. Raquel did a good job of explaining the impact she thought it would have on society. I never would have thought that people might use the spaceships for school trips (obviously your school would have to have a ton of money). Two things I learned include; this was not the first time SpaceShipTwo has ignited. It has happened three other times out of 55 test flights. Another thing I learned is that even after the spaceship had crashed three times and then a fourth Virgin Galactic still did not know what the problem with the spacecraft was. One thing that could have been done better is flow in between paragraphs. I felt like the transitions between each paragraph was kind of rough and choppy.
ReplyDelete