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The red warning light on Richard Branson’s space flight

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Re: The red warning light on Richard Branson’s space flight

#161

Post by zlsa »

rkagerer wrote: post #158
bryananderson wrote: post #36

I recommend Schmidle’s recent book “Test Gods” if you are interested in Virgin Galactic and test piloting. Schmidle is not an engineer and I would have enjoyed a deeper dive into Virgin Galactic’s design choices, but it is a great book about (among other things) the tensions that emerge when a complex technical project is overseen from a distance by utterly nontechnical, PR-oriented upper management. The company’s co…

This may be a smidgen off-topic, but any good books to recommend about either the Apollo program or SpaceX that do delve a little deeper into engineering challenges and design choices?

Liftoff[0] by Eric Berger is a great book about the early days of SpaceX that I can highly recommend.

[0]: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/liftoff-eric-berger?v...

Re: The red warning light on Richard Branson’s space flight

#162

Post by caconym_ »

lanevorockz wrote: post #159

Too much narrative and too little facts. I don’t care how much the journalist hates space travel, just get to the point. All that rumble means, he personally believes that “a more risky” correction for a red light was taken because the pilot was afraid of Branson being angry. A bit of a silly argument when you are talking about life and death situation.

> A bit of a silly argument when you are talking about life and death situation.

"Get-there-itis", a.k.a. plan continuation bias, is a real thing that's gotten a lot of aviators and their passengers killed.

Re: The red warning light on Richard Branson’s space flight

#163

Post by max-ibel »

walrus01 wrote: post #108
labster wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SS2 is going to be a real horrorshow idea, one way or another.

trivia tidbit: the "nadsat" language invented for a clockwork orange incorporates russian. the intention was for "horrorshow" to be an english version of хорошо / khorosho, translated as good or OK.

TIL; fascinating - thanks for the tip. Is there a good link to read more ?

Re: The red warning light on Richard Branson’s space flight

#164

Post by [deleted] »

bnralt wrote: post #102
bee_rider wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole exercise was dumb. Flying up and then down on a rocket is a difference in degree, rather than type, from taking a ride on the Vomit Comet. Orbit -- half way to anywhere -- that's the accomplishment.

I also don't think people realize how close to the earth these people still were. Take a globe, hold your finger as close as you can to it without touching, and that's about as high as Bezos and Branson went. As you said, orbital is what matters, and a suborbital flight around the Karman line doesn't mean much.

[deleted]

Re: The red warning light on Richard Branson’s space flight

#165

Post by thatcherc »

rkagerer wrote: post #158
bryananderson wrote: post #36

I recommend Schmidle’s recent book “Test Gods” if you are interested in Virgin Galactic and test piloting. Schmidle is not an engineer and I would have enjoyed a deeper dive into Virgin Galactic’s design choices, but it is a great book about (among other things) the tensions that emerge when a complex technical project is overseen from a distance by utterly nontechnical, PR-oriented upper management. The company’s co…

This may be a smidgen off-topic, but any good books to recommend about either the Apollo program or SpaceX that do delve a little deeper into engineering challenges and design choices?

_Angle of Attack_ by Mike Gray is a good one about Apollo, specifically about North American Aviation and how they built one of the Apollo stages (and a bunch of other neat flying things!). Lots of information but definitely a fun read.

Re: The red warning light on Richard Branson’s space flight

#166

Post by Dylan16807 »

dylan604 wrote: post #157
sellyme wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You honestly believe that the NBA has never [...] I've never watched the NBA, so I'd have no idea. > You think no officials of any sport did or didn't make a call because of some bet somewhere? Just so you're aware, there are numbers between 0% and 100%.

Any number >0 means something was not real

Unless you're claiming it happens every single game, you're applying the wrong number.

Or are you backing your claim down to "100% of content on TV has some faked element in some episode eventually"? Because that's not a very useful claim.

Re: The red warning light on Richard Branson’s space flight

#167

Post by doctor_eval »

Sebb767 wrote: post #150
doctor_eval wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone can win if they are allowed to break the rules. You get my respect by completing the mission within the rules.

To be fair, the rules they are really up against are those of physics and they naturally can't break those. FAA rules are rather pale in comparison.

The rules I'm referring to are the ones that say "if this light goes red, abort the mission instead of potentially crashing into other people or killing everyone aboard".

Re: The red warning light on Richard Branson’s space flight

#168

Post by jsrcout »

rkagerer wrote: post #158
bryananderson wrote: post #36

I recommend Schmidle’s recent book “Test Gods” if you are interested in Virgin Galactic and test piloting. Schmidle is not an engineer and I would have enjoyed a deeper dive into Virgin Galactic’s design choices, but it is a great book about (among other things) the tensions that emerge when a complex technical project is overseen from a distance by utterly nontechnical, PR-oriented upper management. The company’s co…

This may be a smidgen off-topic, but any good books to recommend about either the Apollo program or SpaceX that do delve a little deeper into engineering challenges and design choices?

Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles

https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4206/sp4206.htm

Re: The red warning light on Richard Branson’s space flight

#169

Post by leshow »

gwern wrote: post #124
jonplackett wrote: post #111

> And now they were accelerating to Mach 3, with a red light glowing in the cockpit. Fortunately for Branson and the three other crew members in the back, the pilots got the ship into space and landed safely It seems like we’re missing the crucial step of how it all turned out OK. 2 paragraphs earlier they’re saying how red lights ought to ‘scare the shit out of you’ and ‘it’s too late once it turns red’.

Yes, the red light is supposed to mean that they failed to boost enough to be able to glide back to their target runway. But... they did anyway? Apparently? Something is missing from this account.

I think the red and yellow light are degrees of warning, there's a quote with the pilots debating which one scares them, to me that means neither of them are beyond the point of no return. I did have the same thought when I first read the article though.

Re: The red warning light on Richard Branson’s space flight

#170

Post by dylan604 »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #166
dylan604 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any number >0 means something was not real

Unless you're claiming it happens every single game, you're applying the wrong number. Or are you backing your claim down to "100% of content on TV has some faked element in some episode eventually "? Because that's not a very useful claim.

TV is entertainment, and any faith in the images coming from it is undeserved. Is 100% hyperbole, yes, of course. Is the majority of content on TV fake and over produced, yes, of course it is. It used to be that the label news meant something, but the definitions have been blurred so that opinion shows are now touted as news. After the news label, anything else appearing on the boobtube is meant for entertainment. Believing that the "unscripted" "reality" programming is real is farsical to me. I've worked in production for so long that maybe I'm jaded, but I've worked for religious programming, sports programming, drama/comedy production, live interviews, etc. Everything is touched up in some form or fashion. Education channels exist, but depending on what camp you're in, even those are faking/pushing agendas.
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