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Virgin Galactic Crash Puts Journalist On Other Side Of Questions

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As a print journalist, I am used to asking the questions. But the recent crash of a Virgin Galactic test flight put me squarely on the other, receiving, end of them. It was eye-opening, to say the least.

When SpaceShipTwo disintegrated on Oct. 31, media crews began scrambling for interviews with VG ticketholders. Since the company does not publicly disclose its customers, it is not easy to find them. There are the rumored celebrities with tickets, of course, like Leonardo DiCaprio, Angelina Jolie and Justin Bieber, but they have little interest in talking to the media, especially about something so sensitive.

As a ticketholder on a future VG flight, I have written my share of stories about training - at Mach 2.6 to 84,000 feet in a Russian MiG-25, a parabolic weightlessness flight in an Ilyushin 76 - even supersonic aerobatics over South Africa in an old English Electric Lightning. So there I was, on Google, with my stories for all to find.

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo with author Jim Clash. (Photo: John Angelillo)

And find me they did. Requests poured in almost immediately from Fox Television, Los Angeles Times, BBC, NPR, New York Post’s Page Six, The Times of London, and so on. I could have ducked them, of course, but I thought it was important that a rational, reasoned opinion from someone who understands VG’s business model - and what suborbital space flight is all about – get out there.

I first heard about the crash on Face Book, of all places. The news felt as if someone had punched me in the gut. My initial concern was for the test pilots. It quickly came out that Michael Alsbury sadly had lost his life, while Pete Siebold somehow had survived and was in a California hospital.

In each interview, I tried to keep my message clear. This is rocket science, and it is difficult. That is why companies like VG test. Can you imagine if the accident had occurred with a ship full of eight people? I also reiterated that I was not giving up on the program, nor was I selling my reservation back (it is 100% refundable). I was in for the long haul.

Some reporters didn't understand the subtleties of space flight - others were better informed, but had an agenda. The British press, for whatever reason, seemed to have a bias against VG founder Sir Richard Branson.

Some of my friends saw the coverage. I got an email from one I hadn't been in touch with since we had worked together on my college newspaper decades ago. He was reading when his girlfriend, who was watching TV, yelled, "Can you believe this nut is using part of his 401(k) for a ticket on that space contraption that just crashed?" He said that when he looked up, the "nut" on-screen was me!

Other friends joked that VG should give me a free ticket for all the exposure I was giving them. And then there were the doomsayers telling me the program is kaput, never going to happen and that I had better get my money back before it's too late.

One thing you learn quickly is why it is called "15 seconds" (of fame). I went to NBC's Today Show and taped a 30-minute interview. When it aired the next morning, it had been pared down to a 15-second sound bite - and the quote wasn't even that interesting! My sound-bite on ABC World News, after 45 minutes of filmed questions beforehand, was even shorter - maybe 10 seconds - and just as mediocre.

Former ABC anchor Charles Gibson, after moderating a Hubble Telescope event on the Intrepid last week, gave me some advice after the fact. "Just keep making the point you want to make, no matter what the question," he said, laughing.

CNN visited my apartment and spent three hours having me answer questions, throw M&M's into the air for a slow-motion camera to simulate weightlessness - and film souvenirs from my past adventures. That story came out relatively well, all three minutes of it!

Things have calmed a bit now as the NTSB continues with its investigation. Although preliminary, findings show that a lever for SS2's feathering reentry system was unlocked early, possibly deploying the wing prematurely and destroying the spacecraft. If true, this "pilot error" scenario is more encouraging than had a rocket engine or airframe structure failed, as was originally assumed.

Branson has since reiterated he is still committed to taking his family on the first commercial flight. But perhaps most encouraging is that only 20 people, or about 3% of VG’s 700-plus ticketholders, have asked for refunds. The company says another version of SS2 is being built, and that flight tests should commence again as early as summer of next year.

Media conclusion: I'd rather be on the asking side of questions than the receiving end any day. But it was interesting for a week playing role-reversal (and yes, the camera does add 10 pounds).