Recently the Virgin Galactic Space Ship Two was destroyed
shortly after it separated from its launch vehicle. So far the investigation
has determined that the cause of the accident is that the braking system was
initiated early causing the aircraft to lose control. Currently it is believed
that this is due to the co-pilot releasing the safety on the braking early.
The resulting breakup of the aircraft killed the co-pilot
and injured the pilot who was able to eject and safely parachute to the
surface. While the current thinking is that the feathering system caused the
crash the NTSB has yet to rule anything out including pilot error which is
being heavily looked at.
This is one of the latest failures to the civilian space
tourism business. Space travel has always been a favorite subject for many
people and being a trekkie myself I of course want to go and explore space. In the
early 2000’s flights were offered to some participants to the international
space station aboard Russian Soyuz capsules for a very affordable 20-40 million
dollars (because I just so happen to have that kind of cash lying around).
However around 2010 these flights stopped due to an increase
in crew sizes at the ISS. However flights are planned to resume around 2015. One
of the most highly publicized private flights is the virgin galactic flights. The Virgin company has been making many headlines with its different designs for
orbital and sub orbital ships. And people have been purchasing tickets on the
first flights for years.
The FAA for once has fairly little regulations on something
to do with air travel. The FAA regulations specifically Title 14 CFR Chapter III
— Commercial Space Transportation, deals with certain space flight requirements
such as launch licensing, license to operate a reentry site, Reentry of a
Reentry Vehicle Other than a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), and human space
flight requirements.
I see space tourism going very far (eventually Star Trek
far) however I believe that it will take a very VERY, VERY, long time to get there. For the first dozen or so years that
space tourism really begins to take off (no pun intended) it will only cater to
the very rich because of the how costly it will be to get off the ground. However
the longer that it is around the cheaper I believe it will become, it could
eventually become as cheap as the price of an airline ticket (this again is a
very long time from now).
From what I have found the requirements are fairly low for
pilots going into this field they include A bachelor degree is required and
only 1,000 hours of PIC time in a jet aircraft plus the usual medical
requirements for pilots to name a few of the requirements. For the moment as
with all of aviation it really boils down to who you know and who they know in
order to get into the industry. While some companies have been advertising
positions available they aren’t exactly hiring off the street.
For more information on the crash of Virgin Galactic Space Ship Two check out this website,
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/03/virgin-galactic-crash-investigation-rules-nothing-out
I agree that eventually space travel will become very inexpensive and that we will be able to travel deep into space. We can accomplish so much in only a few years. Consider how far we’ve come since aviation first began barely 100 years ago. We have thousands of years to perfect these designs that will eventually take us as far as Star Trek.
ReplyDeleteI still cant believe that the requirements are so low to fly. I would imagine that competition for jobs would be very high though
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting the level of regulation that currently covers space flight. I think it will greatly depend on what kind of progress the industry makes and what types of rules present themselves as important safeguards for commercial space flight when it comes to how regulatory efforts will continue.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right that it will eventually take off but will not be for a long time before we see cheap tickets, maybe not even in our lifetime. When it eventually does grow I'm sure the FAA will step in and add a book full of regulations once they figure out how to regulate it.
ReplyDeleteI feel space travel becoming affordable is not as far as it seams. With in a 100 year period the first manned flight happened, commercial aviation became affordable, heck we landed a man on the moon. It will be interesting to see how fast space travel will move forward and what will become of this accident.
ReplyDeleteI agree that technology aviation/space technology developed at quite a fast pace from the Wright's to present day, but it does seem that advancements in technology on the space front are slowly...not that there aren't any, just not as many in a short period of time. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for space tourism to become the common place.
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