Rocket Science Is Hard... As Hard As Life Itself

Analysis/Commentary By ANN Editor-In-Chief/CEO, Jim Campbell

It's been a bad couple of days... for aviation and aerospace -- and all those who dream of greater things for ourselves and our children.

But as bad as the news has been, so has the coverage given to these events by general media personnel who, simply put, don't know what they are talking about. And worse than that, these clowns do not appeciate (or care) about the benefits our world has accrued or the critical (but necessary) relationship between risk and reward -- and/or how our present circumstances and capabilities have been brought about -- even if it was force fed to them by the likes of Christopher Columbus, Charles Lindbergh, and/or Neil Armstrong, personally.

Everyone (in the general media) wants to place blame. Everyone wants instant answers. Everyone wants to vent in front of the camera, look important and tells us all what REALLY happened... when the plain fact of the matter is this... we don't really know what happened... and we're not likely to, for some time.

In 1938, Charles Lindbergh wrote the following in one of his journals, possibly in response to the kind of hysteria we're seeing this very day, "The readiness to blame a dead pilot for an accident is nauseating, but it has been the tendency ever since I can remember. What pilot has not been in positions where he was in danger and where perfect judgment would have advised against going? But when a man is caught in such a position he is judged only by his error and seldom given credit for the times he has extricated himself from worse situations. Worst of all, blame is heaped upon him by other pilots, all of whom have been in parallel situations themselves, but without being caught in them. If one took no chances, one would not fly at all. Safety lies in the judgment of the chances one takes. That judgment, in turn, must rest upon one's outlook on life. Any coward can sit in his home and criticize a pilot for flying into a mountain in fog. But I would rather, by far, die on a mountainside than in bed. Why should we look for his errors when a brave man dies? Unless we can learn from his experience, there is no need to look for weakness. Rather, we should admire the courage and spirit in his life. What kind of man would live where there is no daring? And is life so dear that we should blame men for dying in adventure? Is there a better way to die?"

I am SO incredibly UNIMPRESSED with the general media coverage of the SpaceShipTwo accident and the immediate need to place blame and assert 'facts' not in evidence to fill air-time/paragraphs. Rocket science is hard... The Scaled Composites crew (all of them) knows this and would NOT have taken a single step had they believed that more was required. I know these folks, even went to test Pilot School with Scaled staffers, and I have to tell you that they are dedicated, professional and damned good at what they do.

Still; this is a dangerous business that requires extreme competence, a bit of courage, and serious smarts to pursue--and even then, accidents still happen... just as they have throughout aviation history, automotive history, nautical history, et al...

Let the EXPERTS do their job, let the very tight-knit space community folks heal a bit, and I guarantee you that we will learn a lot from this -- very valuable 'stuff' ... but for all of those media morons who don't know  oxidizer from their ass -- quit guessing, start reporting FACTS, and let those who REALLY know what they're doing, get their jobs done in their own time, using proven investigative procedures and techniques that produce solid real results.

These flights were not 'just' about space tourism, they were about making space accessible to more people, raising the bar in cost-effective rocket technology and using that as a basis for a future that can (and will) improve the lives of millions.

I do not necessarily agree with everything that Virgin Galactic has done and/or planned... but I do defend their right to craft a future of their own making and to be pioneers on their own terms -- and believe you me, EVERYONE associated with this project (especially flight crews) believes the same or they wouldn't be there. 

God bless all those who push the boundaries of technology, space and the 'improbable' -- these are the folks that can change the world -- and have already done so.

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