Do they not have any contingency for this? No insurance? Why should the public help out a company largely owned by Northrop Grumman amd funded by billionaire Richard Branson whose main aim is to send millionaires on joy ride into space?

Let them take care of their own. Let them deal with the liability they have for their dead and injured employees. Let them practice what they preach. It’s what “professionals” would do.

And why is NSS leading the call for financial support? Its executive director works for Scaled’s main customer Virgin Galactic. He’s asking the public to help out a company that is vital to his own fortune. Isn’t that a bit of a conflict?

I also find it odd that Peter Diamandis was out there the next day trying to reassure the public that this had nothing to do with space (testing the spacecraft engine is unrelated??) and would have no effect on the safety of SpaceShipTwo. How does he know this before the investigation even started? He may be right, but it’s premature at best to make these claims.

According to a reliable source at the Mojave Spaceport the NOX tank was designed to be pressurized up to 18,000 PSI and it is this tank or it’s associated hardware that ruptured. There was no flame or ignition of fuel, simply a shock wave from the gas expanding. The shockwave caused concussion damage to the victims chests and the pressure was so intense it caused injuries to the skin that looked like burns.

According to my source it was lucky (if such a thing can be said) that this happened on thursday and not earlier because the lifeflight helicopters that responded were down for extended maintenance (until just hours before the incident) and would not of been able to respond.