VSS Enterprise Crash
The VSS ''Enterprise'' crash occurred on October 31, 2014, when the VSS ''Enterprise'', a SpaceShipTwo experimental spaceflight test vehicle operated by Virgin Galactic, suffered a catastrophic in-flight breakup during a test flight and crashed in the Mojave Desert near Cantil, California. Co-pilot Michael Alsbury was killed and pilot Peter Siebold was seriously injured. The National Transportation Safety Board later concluded that the breakup was caused by Alsbury's premature unlocking of the air brake device used for atmospheric re-entry. The NTSB said other important factors in the accident were inadequate design safeguards, poor pilot training and lack of rigorous oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Accident On the day of the accident, ''Enterprise'' was performing a test flight – powered flight 4 (PF04) – in which it was dropped from the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, VMS ''Eve'', after taking off from the Mojave Air and Space Port.Moja ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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VSS Enterprise
VSS ''Enterprise'' ( tail number: N339SS) was the first SpaceShipTwo (SS2) spaceplane, built by Scaled Composites for Virgin Galactic. As of 2004, it was planned to be the first of five commercial suborbital SS2 spacecraft planned by Virgin Galactic. It was also the first ship of the Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo class, based on upscaling the design of record-breaking SpaceShipOne. The VSS ''Enterprise''s name was an acknowledgement of the USS ''Enterprise'' from the ''Star Trek'' television series. The spaceplane also shared its name with NASA's prototype Space Shuttle orbiter, as well as the aircraft carrier USS ''Enterprise''. It was rolled out on 7 December 2009. SpaceShipTwo made its first powered flight in April 2013. Richard Branson said it "couldn't have gone more smoothly". ''Enterprise'' was destroyed during a powered test flight on 31 October 2014, killing one pilot, Michael Alsbury, and seriously injuring another, Peter Siebold. This was the fi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in the United States and surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic control, certification of personnel and aircraft, setting standards for airports, and protection of U.S. assets during the launch or re-entry of commercial space vehicles. Powers over neighboring international waters were delegated to the FAA by authority of the International Civil Aviation Organization. The FAA was created in as the Federal Aviation Agency, replacing the Civil Aeronautics Administration (United States), Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA). In 1967, the FAA became part of the newly formed U.S. Department of Transportation and was renamed the Federal Aviation Administration. Major functions The FAA's roles include: *Regulating U.S. co ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pressure Suit
A pressure suit is a protective suit worn by high-altitude pilots who may fly at altitudes where the air pressure is too low for an unprotected person to survive, even when breathing pure oxygen at positive pressure. Such suits may be either full-pressure (e.g., a space suit) or partial-pressure (as used by aircrew). Partial-pressure suits work by providing mechanical counter-pressure to assist breathing at altitude. Background The region from sea level to around is known as the physiological-efficient zone. Oxygen levels are usually high enough for humans to function without supplemental oxygen and decompression sickness is rare. The physiological-deficient zone extends from to about . There is an increased risk of problems such as Hypoxia (medical), hypoxia, trapped-gas dysbarism (where gas trapped in the body expands), and evolved-gas dysbarism (where dissolved gases such as nitrogen may form in the tissues, i.e. decompression sickness). Above approximately oxygen-rich Br ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was established in London in 1851 by Paul Reuter. The Thomson Corporation of Canada acquired the agency in a 2008 corporate merger, resulting in the formation of the Thomson Reuters Corporation. In December 2024, Reuters was ranked as the 27th most visited news site in the world, with over 105 million monthly readers. History 19th century Paul Julius Reuter worked at a book-publishing firm in Berlin and was involved in distributing radical pamphlets at the beginning of the Revolutions of 1848. These publications brought much attention to Reuter, who in 1850 developed a prototype news service in Aachen using homing pigeons and electric telegraphy from 1851 on, in order to transmit messages between Brussels and Aachen, in what today is Aa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster
On Saturday, February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disintegrated as it Atmospheric entry, re-entered the atmosphere over Texas and Louisiana, killing all seven astronauts on board. It was the second List of Space Shuttle missions, Space Shuttle mission to end in disaster, after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, loss of ''Challenger'' and crew in 1986. The mission, designated STS-107, was the twenty-eighth flight for the orbiter, the 113th flight of the Space Shuttle fleet and the 88th after the ''Challenger'' disaster. It was dedicated to research in various fields, mainly on board the SpaceHab module inside the shuttle's payload bay. During launch, a piece of the Polyurethane foam, insulating foam broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the Space Shuttle thermal protection system, thermal protection system tiles on the Space Shuttle orbiter, orbiter's left wing. Similar foam shedding had occurred during previous Space Shu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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NTSB
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine accidents, pipeline incidents, bridge failures, and railroad accidents. The NTSB is also in charge of investigating cases of hazardous materials releases that occur during transportation. The agency is based in Washington, D.C. It has three regional offices, located in Anchorage, Alaska; Aurora, Colorado; and Federal Way, Washington. The agency also operated a national training center at its Ashburn facility. History The origin of the NTSB was in the Air Commerce Act of 1926, which assigned the United States Department of Commerce responsibility for investigating domestic aviation accidents. Before the NTSB, the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA; at the time the CA ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Atmospheric Entry
Atmospheric entry (sometimes listed as Vimpact or Ventry) is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. Atmospheric entry may be ''uncontrolled entry,'' as in the entry of astronomical objects, space debris, or bolides. It may be ''controlled entry'' (or ''reentry'') of a spacecraft that can be navigated or follow a predetermined course. Methods for controlled atmospheric ''entry, descent, and landing'' of spacecraft are collectively termed as ''EDL''. Objects entering an atmosphere experience atmospheric drag, which puts mechanical stress on the object, and aerodynamic heating—caused mostly by compression of the air in front of the object, but also by drag. These forces can cause loss of mass ( ablation) or even complete disintegration of smaller objects, and objects with lower compressive strength can explode. Objects have reentered with speeds ranging from 7.8 km/s for ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nitrous Oxide
Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or factitious air, among others, is a chemical compound, an Nitrogen oxide, oxide of nitrogen with the Chemical formula, formula . At room temperature, it is a colourless Flammability#Definitions, non-flammable gas, and has a slightly sweet scent and taste. At elevated temperatures, nitrous oxide is a powerful Oxidising agent, oxidiser similar to molecular oxygen. Nitrous oxide has significant Nitrous oxide (medication), medical uses, especially in surgery and dentistry, for its Anesthesia, anaesthetic and Analgesic, pain-reducing effects, and it is on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. Its colloquial name, "laughing gas", coined by Humphry Davy, describes the Euphoria, euphoric effects upon inhaling it, which cause it to be used as a recreational drug inducing a brief "Dissociative, high". When abused chronically ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nylon
Nylon is a family of synthetic polymers characterised by amide linkages, typically connecting aliphatic or Polyamide#Classification, semi-aromatic groups. Nylons are generally brownish in color and can possess a soft texture, with some varieties exhibiting a silk-like appearance. As Thermoplastic, thermoplastics, nylons can be melt-processed into fibres, Thin film, films, and diverse shapes. The properties of nylons are often modified by blending with a variety of additives. Numerous types of nylon are available. One family, designated nylon-XY, is derived from diamines and dicarboxylic acids of carbon chain lengths X and Y, respectively. An important example is nylon-6,6 (). Another family, designated nylon-Z, is derived from amino acid, aminocarboxylic acids with carbon chain length Z. An example is nylon-[6]. Nylon polymers have extensive commercial applications, including uses in textiles and fibres (such as apparel, flooring and rubber reinforcement), molded components fo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lancaster, California
Lancaster is a charter city in northern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, in the Antelope Valley of the western Mojave Desert in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 173,516, making Lancaster the List of United States cities by population, 158th-most populous city in the United States and the List of largest cities in California by population, 30th most populous in California. Lancaster is a twin cities, twin city with its southern neighbor Palmdale, California, Palmdale; together, they are the principal cities within the Antelope Valley region. Lancaster is located approximately north (via Interstate 5 in California, I-5 and California State Route 14, SR 14) of downtown Los Angeles and is near the Kern County, California, Kern County line. It is separated from the Los Angeles Basin by the San Gabriel Mountains to the south and from Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield and the San Joaquin Va ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Antelope Valley Hospital
Antelope Valley Medical Center (AVMC) is a district hospital located in Lancaster, California specializing in acute care. It has 420 beds and is accredited by the Joint Commission. In March 2010 AVMC was declared one of the 14 trauma centers in Los Angeles County. Hospital rating data The HealthGrades website contains the latest quality data for Antelope Valley Medical Center, as of 2015. For this rating section three different types of data from HealthGrades are presented: quality ratings for 27 inpatient conditions and procedures, 13 patient safety indicators, percentage of patients giving the hospital a 9 or 10 (the two highest possible ratings). For inpatient conditions and procedures, there are three possible ratings: worse than expected, as expected, better than expected. For Antelope Valley Medical Center the data for this category is: *Worse than expected - 13 *As expected - 14 *Better than expected - 0 For patient safety indicators, there are the same three possible r ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Parachute
A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves various purposes like slowing cargo, aiding in space capsule recovery, and stabilizing vehicles or objects. Modern parachutes are typically made from durable fabrics like nylon and come in various shapes, such as dome-shaped, rectangular, and inverted domes, depending on their specific function. The concept of the parachute dates back to ancient attempts at flight. In 852 AD, Armen Firman, in Córdoba, Spain, made the first recorded jump with a large cloak to slow his fall. Renaissance figures like Francesco di Giorgio Martini and Leonardo da Vinci later sketched designs resembling modern parachutes, but it wasn’t until the 18th century that the first successful jumps occurred. French Louis-Sébastien Lenormand made the first public jump i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |