The Conquest of Space is Worth the Risk

Orbital Sciences Mission Explodes 6 Seconds Into Launch

No doubt you’ve seen the video below, showing the Orbital Sciences Corporation Cygnus cargo spacecraft expl0ding shortly after liftoff.

This is an unfortunate catastrophe for Orbital Sciences, but also for the many people (including a number of students) who had experiments and other instruments aboard. NASA, the FAA, and Orbital Sciences, in conjunction with the National Transportation Safety Board, are investigating the problem. As of right now, prior to a press conference about the event, there are NO definitive answers about why this happened.

Let me say that again: there are NO definitive answers.

There WILL be answers, and they will serve to make the next flight safer. There is already a great deal of speculation online by many armchair enthusiasts and too few experts about what happened. That, too, is normal, but hardly helpful.

The name of this article is from a quote by Gus Grissom about the dangers of space flight. It’s never been truer than today:  accidents happen. They are studied. And, space agencies and companies learn from them and move on.

Give the investigation some time, and pay attention when Orbital Sciences and NASA give information about this mishap. They are best places to find out what happened and the press conferences will be a good first step in finding out how this happened.  Not from loony-toon conspiracy theorists (and yes, they’re oozing out from under the rocks and bridges of insanity, coming up with all kinds of fantastical ranting).