This seems like something that the NTSB will find interesting.
Category Archives: Space
Interstellar
Peter Suderman reviews his review.
[Update a while later]
And here‘s John Nolte’s review.
[Sunday-morning update]
Five reasons why Interstellar is a conservative film.
I think that it helps to view it as allegorical, and not try to take the science too seriously.
[Bumped]
Siebold Speaks?
Doesn’t sound like he’s going to be able to tell NTSB much about what happened. I’d like to get his impression of the vibration environment with the new engine.
In Which I’m Cited At ThinkProgress
I’m pretty sure this is a first.
I should note, I really don’t “worship” Branson. I have a lot of problems with him. My piece was more of a reaction to Kluger’s bashing than a defense of him per se.
Why Space Tourism Matters
Thoughts from Holman Jenkins. I like the idea of naming errant asteroids after senators.
[Second link should get you through the paywall]
Sir Walter Raleigh And Sir Richard Branson
How well does the historical analogy work?
Interstellar: Fantastic Visuals
…with an “undercurrent of cheesiness.” It looks like, as with Gravity, it will be beautifully annoying.
In Defense Of Daring
I respond to Jeffrey Kluger’s Branson bashing, over at The New Atlantis.
[Update a few minutes later]
Meghan McArdle says that of course space tourism will continue. The notion that a fatality in a flight test would destroy an industry is pretty stupid.
Also, nothing has changed in the past decade: Alex Tabarrok still doesn’t understand the difference between orbital and suborbital flight, or between flight test and operations.
Branson And Refunds
I’m sure that you’re as shocked as I am that Sir Richard’s statement on Saturday is at variance with reality. I think the technical business term for this is “fiasco.” And I’m angry that it has so tainted the industry, not to mention given the FAA an excuse to regulate, if they wish to.
[Update a couple minutes later]
The real problem is “bad business.”
Pilot Error?
That’s not a statement, but clearly is a legitimate question. If so, he paid with his life.
Also if so, it’s a pretty easy thing to fix. But it still doesn’t explain why they deployed without the command to do so. And we still don’t really know how well the engine performed, or what kind of vibration environment it will provide the vehicle and passengers. At least publicly.
[Update a few minutes later]
It strikes me as ironic, and a demonstration of one of the major points of my book, that the two main features of the vehicle implemented in the name of safety (hybrid motor, and feathering wings) may have actually made the vehicle more dangerous and less operable. Lynx will be a much simpler system.