Exclusive for Podcrashers:
While commercial space travel is still a future dream, progress requires space flight companies to experiment with spacecraft to ensure these vehicles are safe for human flight. And on October 31, 2014, while the VSS Enterprise, a SpaceShip2-type spacecraft of Virgin Galactic, was performing a crucial test flight above the Mojave Desert, things went suddenly - and terribly - wrong. Join Shelly for this Patreon-exclusive episode of Take to the Sky: the Air Disaster Podcast, as we explore what happened and how this accident has paved the way for safer commercial space flights in the future.Sources consulted for this story:
- Air Crash Investigations (Season 18, Episode 6) courtesy of National Geographic on the Smithsonian Channel and available via Facebook Watch
- NTSB report on the VSS Enterprise Crash
- Mojave Air and Space Port, Wikipedia
- Virgin Galactic, Wikipedia
- SpaceShipTwo 'Pilot Was Thrown From The Vehicle' High In Atmosphere (NPR)
- Deadly SpaceShipTwo Crash Caused by Co-Pilot Error: NTSB (Space.com)
- Virgin Galactic spacecraft appears to have broken apart in flight (CNBC)
- Enough With Amateur-Hour Space Flight (Jeffrey Kluger for Time Magazine)
- 2021: The year of space tourism (CNN)
- Here's What Caused a Catastrophic Virgin Galactic Crash (Smithsonian Magazine)
- NTSB reveals cause of Virgin Galactic's deadly SpaceShipTwo crash (The Verge)
Credits:
Written and produced by: Shelly Price and Stephanie HubkaDirected and engineered at: Snow Monster Studios
Sound editor: Podcast Engineers
Producer: Adam Hubka
Music by: Mike Dunn
Image of SpaceShipTwo while attached to its launch plane WhiteKnightTwo. Source: Virgin
SpaceShipTwo in flight. Source: Virgin
Image from tail mounted camera right before the breakup. Source: NTSB
