Virgin Galactic / Scaled Composites Anomaly

Sad to learn that SpaceShipTwo was lost in today's test flight. Hoping for the best, for the pilots.

Here's a CNN story, and a SpaceFlightNow story on the subject.

Update 11/1: One pilot was killed, the other parachuted out, seriously injured.

Update 11/3: It sounds like it's looking possible that the braking "tail feathers" (stabilizers) were deployed prematurely, about 9 seconds into the boost phase. Ugh. It's not good, to have all that stuff hanging out in the breeze, when the breeze is going thousands of miles per hour.

GPS Launched!

We just completed today's successful GPS launch, with some really great rocketcam views!

Here's a SpaceFlightNow story with imagery.

Orbital Sciences / Antares Anomaly

Sorry to hear that Antares had a launch failure today. A not-so-subtle reminder that this is a risky business.

I was amazed to see them (Range Safety?) let the rocket fall back, almost all the way back down to the Wallops Island launch pad, before they destroyed it. I would think they incurred an unnecessary risk to the pad by waiting so long. Once forward motion is gone, you'd think they'd destroy it immediately at that altitude, so save as much of the pad as possible.

Here's a link to early SpaceFlightNow coverage of the story, and a later story.

Update 10/31: It looks like maybe the launch pad survived with minimal damage.

The initial investigation appears to be focusing on the first stage propulsion section, specifically the AJ26 Russian-made engines, although they're not talking about any specific cause yet.

Pressure sores

The Life Care at Home nurse is telling us that Medicare will no longer pay for daily wound nurse visits. So the nurse taught me how to dress K's pressure sores (yes, there are two, now) on Saturday, and I did my first solo wound dressing today. Went OK. It was nice to have Amy here, helping to find the necessary supplies. It's really frustrating, that we can't convince K to keep the pressure off these sores, until they heal. Even more frustrating to learn that Medicare won't cover everyday nurse visits, even though everyday bandage changes are necessary.

Nauseas Friday

K lost most of Friday to nausea and worse. She barely made it to this morning's dialysis, as every motion caused another wave of nausea. Then DaVita almost sent her to the ER, because her blood pressure was so low after dialysis. But it finally came up, she came home, and has been actually doing moderately well since then.

Pressure sore

Kristan's had a pressure sore for some time, and it isn't getting any better. It's getting closer to becoming a stage 4 wound. It doesn't help, that it's right where she sits, and she has nothing to do but sit, considering she's not allowed to use her prosthetics yet. The only good news, is that she's learning to lay on her side in bed, despite the discomfort from her broken neck, and that relieves one source of irritation on the sore.

Smacked her head

K fell and hit her head, when transferring from her caregiver's car to her wheelchair, on the way to a medical appointment. The doctor she was going to see looked her over, and decided she didn't need to go to the ER. We're supposed to be watching for concussion symptoms.