FAA official says space tourism risky, Virgin Galactic prez says not so

William Atkins
Saturday, 02 August 2008 21:28

Science - Space

On the other side of the safety picture, Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn was recently interviewed by The Independent.

Whitehorn was asked by interviewer, “New technology involves risk, space travel most certainly does. How can you manage the dangers?”

Whitehorn answered, ”We’re trying to take the riskiest things out of the equation. Ground-based rocketry involves firing a massive explosion under somebody to leave the planet – we’ve eliminated that. So you’re launching in a very safe environment."

He added, "We’ve hopefully eliminated some of the risks of re-entry, which is another of the most dangerous aspects.We believe that this will be thousands of times safer than any previous human flights into space.”

The entire interview is found at the July 26, 2008 The Independent website entitled “Space travel: Are we nearly there yet?”

Comment: This journalist agrees with both points of view. Nield is very much right when he says enormous risks are involved in space travel, especially when a whole new industry is just getting off the ground.

However, if developed properly, with strenuous safety precautions set into the system, a "relatively" safer journey into space can be achieved. I really do not think, however, that a "very safe" trip can be hoped for, at least initially in the first few years of commercial space travel. I guess it all depends on what is meant by "very safe, "relatively safer," etc.

With that stated, nothing in this world is without risks. And space is not a place that is inherently a secure place to be without properly designed and maintained equipment and spacecraft and properly trained pilots and ground crew. Some companies will do it with the "right stuff" and others will not.

We'll find out eventually which ones are the safer companies to go out there in space with, and which ones aren't. As a comparison, some car companies, as an example, have better safety records than others. As with cars, you will most likely pay more for safer trips (or, maybe I should say less risky trips) to space.