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A flower has many petals. These petals appear distinct from each other. But all petals have emerged from the same single stem. The stem is the seat of the Atma, from which the petals have emanated. But we view the flower as a single object. The flower is one, but the petals are many. Same analogy is applicable to the endless number of waves arising on the ocean. The waves are many and distinct. But they are of the same stuff as the ocean. From the waves arises the foam, which has the same properties as the waves and the ocean though different in form and name. All the three are based on the ocean. This is the logical basis forAdvaita (philosophy of non-dualism). The Atma is the basis for everything. Ignoring this truth people pursue the myriad ephemeral objects of the phenomenal world, but ultimately all come to a realisation of the Atmic Principle.
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Engineering
” Catherine Destivelle Climbing Solo in Mali…” Incredible and Amazing !!!
This pre-YouTube video is of Catherine Destivelle soloing in Mali. Filmed in 1987, High Magazine commented,
“the film Seo of her soloing on a sandstone cliff in the Mali desert is one that has been seen worldwide and the one clear image that has stuck in the minds of the general public in Britain”.
This was undoubtedly true at the time, and most climbers of a certain generation will have seen this film before, however now that video is ubiquitous across the internet, it is easy to forget such classics as this.
The film examines the local people, the Dogons of Sanga, for whom climbing is part of their everyday life. Catherine is fascinated by these people, and they admire her daring solo climbs.
SOURCE:::: Jack Geldard – Editor – UKC in http://www.ukclimbing.com
Natarajan
” The War and Beyond… Aviation History Month …. November ” ….
Aviation History Month is still underway, and this week we’re looking at airlines from 1940 – 1960. Despite World War II ongoing during the first quarter of the period, aviation still saw a great deal of progression and many new airlines commenced operation.
July 1940 saw the first operational flight of the Boeing Stratoliner which became the first aircraft to fly with a pressurised cabin. The aircraft flew up to 20,000 feet avoiding turbulence, from Miami, Florida to Latin America.
The Gloster ‘Whittle’ E28/39 first flew on May 15 1941 as the first successful jet aircraft, with the engine designed by Frank Whittle.
April 1947 saw United Airlines introducing the Douglas DC-6 aircraft, the first commercial postwar aircraft to feature full-cabin pressurisation.
In March 1949, Luck Lady II made the first non-stop flight around the world. The Boeing B-50A was in the air for 94 hours and one minute, was refuelled four times by strategically positioned B-29s before touching down.
But to continue our theme, Routesonline have taken a look at some of the airlines that began operation between the periods of 1940 – 1960.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines
Scandinavian Airlines System, as it was originally named, was founded in 1946 and is now the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. It was created after three airlines from Sweden, Denmark and Norway formed a partnership to handle the intercontinental air traffic. By the end of 1947, Scandinavian Airlines had carried more than 18,000 passengers over the Atlantic. This figure was far beyond the 3675 passengers SAS had forecasted for the time.
SAS Saab 90A-2 Scandia, Arne Viking SE-BSK, ready for takeoff [Image by SAS]
Japan Airlines
The national flag carrier commenced operations in 1951, and in the October of the same year launched the first private domestic airline service in Japan during the postwar period with Northwest Airlines in charge of flight operations. The Martin 202 “Mokusei” was the first aircraft to enter service, but in 1952, it crashed on Mt. Mihara in Izu Oshima, killing all 37 passengers on board.
Japan Airlines launches a Boeing 747 jumbo jet (1970) [Image by The Guardian]
Lufthansa
Although the airline originally traces its history to 1926 as the airline ‘Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G’, it was suspended in 1945 following the defeat of Germany in WWII. In order to create a new national airline, a company called Aktiengesellschaft für Luftverkehrsbedarf (Luftag) founded a new airline in 1953, using many of the staff that worked at the defunct national flag carrier. On 6 August 1954, Luftag acquired the name and logo from the liquidated Deutsche Lufthansa.
The flagship of the Lufthansa fleet: the Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation. Their characteristic vertical stabilizers made these aircraft unmistakable. [Image by Lufthansa]
Austrian Airlines
When Austria regained sovereignty over its airspace in 1955 with the signature of the State Treaty, two separate carriers were founded, Air Austria and Austrian Airways. On 4 April 1957, the two companies finally merged to form a single airline, Austrian Airlines.The airline began operations in 1958 with its first service from Vienna – London with one of four chartered Vickers Viscount 779 aircraft.
Austrian Airlines Douglas DC9-MD81 [Image by Austrian Airlines]
You can follow the hashtag #AviationHistoryMonth on Twitter to see what else is going on in the world of aviation history, and follow us at @Routesonline
SOURCE::::
Poppy Marello, IN http://www.routesonline.com
Natarajan
Rosetta’s Lander Philae Touches Down on Comet…
Rosetta’s Lander Philae Touches Down on Comet
Favorite Spot Aboard the ISS !!!
Cupola observatory module at the ISS is perhaps the favorite spot of every crewmember aboard the International Space Station, and it not only has the largest windows on the ISS but the largest windows ever installed on a spacecraft.
Commander Chris Hadfield, who has spent a total of 166 days in space, used these fantastic windows for the incredible 45,000 images he took in space.
It’s top, circular window, is the largest with a 31-inch diameter. But all of the windows are big enough to identify from the outside which astronauts are in the module.
And crew members take advantage of the fact by photographing each other while peering out, as their crewmates are on a spacewalk.
The size of the windows, although relatively large for space, give us a great perspective of just how small the Cupola module – and the rest of the ISS – really is.
Cupola, which is Italian for “dome,” is 4.9 feet tall and less than 10 feet in diameter. So, you can’t fit more than an astronaut or two inside at one time.
We found this fantastic image of European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst peaking out of Cupola showing just how cramped life on the ISS can be. It’s kind of adorable.
Here’s another shot of just his hand perhaps waving hello to the camera, “Titanic” style:
Gerst recently returned to Earth after spending over five months aboard the ISS.
While in space from May 28 through Nov. 9, Gerst performed over 50 experiments, which included a spacewalk to improve the ISS and installing ESA’s furnace that can suspend and cool molten metal in mid-air.
Gerst compiled an impressive collection of images during his space mission, which you can find here on Flickr.
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
NASA astronaut Nicholas Patrick hanging on to Cupola.
SOURCE::::www.businessinsider.in
Natarajan
” திருச்சி TO ஆஸ்திரேலியா! – பொள்ளாச்சி இளநீருக்கு புதிய வடிவம்” !!!
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கடை ஒன்றில் விற்பனைக்குத் தயாராக உள்ள பேக்கிங் இளநீர். -
திருச்சி மன்னார்புரத்தில் உள்ள குடோனில் ஏற்றுமதிக்காக கார்விங் செய்யப்படும் இளநீர். (உள்படம்) மட்டை சீவப்பட்டு பேக்கிங் செய்யத் தயாராக உள்ள இளநீர்.
புதிதாக தொழில் தொடங்குபவர், பாரம்பரியமாக தொழில் செய்பவர் என யாராக இருந்தாலும் இன்றைய கால மாற்றத்துக்கு தகுந்தாற்போல ஏதாவது புதுமையான, அதிலும் எளிய வழியை கையாள வேண்டியது அவசியம் என்கிறார் திருச்சியில் இளநீர் மொத்த வியாபாரம் செய்துவரும் காஜாமுகமது (56).
தன்னுடைய தொழிலில் புகுத்திய புதுமையான முயற்சி குறித்து ‘தி இந்து’விடம் அவர் பகிர்ந்துகொண்டது:
கடந்த 25 ஆண்டுகளாக பொள்ளாச்சியில் இருந்து இளநீர் வாங்கி வியாபாரம் செய்கிறேன். இன்றைய இளம் தலைமுறையினர் குளிர்பானம் குடிப்பதை கவுரவமாக கருதுகிறார்கள். என்னதான் இளநீர் இயற்கை பானம் என்றாலும், மரத்தடியிலும் தள்ளு வண்டியிலும் மட்டுமே விற்கும் நிலை உள்ளது. அனைத்து தரப்பினரையும் கவரும் வகையில் ஷாப்பிங் மால் முதல் சிறிய பெட்டிக்கடை வரை இளநீரை கொண்டுசெல்லவேண்டும் என்பது எனது நீண்டநாள் கனவாக இருந்தது.
அதற்கு வடிவம் கொடுக்கும் முதற்கட்ட முயற்சியாக இளநீர் மட்டையை கார்விங் செய்து நீக்கும் மூன்று இயந்திரங்களை கோவையிலிருந்து வாங்கினேன். மின் மோட்டார் உதவியுடன் இயங்கும் இந்த இயந்திரத்தின் நடுவே முழு இளநீரை வைத்து, சுழலச் செய்து கொண்டே மேல் மட்டையை நீக்கி, தலை மற்றும் அடிப்பகுதியை ரம்பம் போன்று சுழலும் இயந்திரத்தால் நறுக்கிவிடுவோம். பின்னர் சுத்தமாகக் கழுவி, மெல்லிய பாலித்தீன் பேக்கிங் செய்கிறோம். சராசரியாக 2 கிலோ எடையுள்ள இளநீர், இவ்வாறு மட்டை நீக்குவதால் 800 கிராமாக எடை குறைகிறது.
ஆரம்பத்தில் இதை, என்னிடம் இளநீர் வாங்கும் சில்லறை வியாபாரிகளிடம் விற்கக் கொடுத்தேன். முதலில் தயங்கியவர்கள், தற்போது தினமும் பச்சை இளநீருடன், இதையும் வாங்கி விற்கின்றனர். ஒரு பக்கெட்டில் 20 இளநீரை அடுக்கி பேக்கிங் செய்துள்ளேன். குளிர்பானம் விற்கும் எல்லா இடங்களிலும் இதை எளிதாக விற்கலாம். ஏற்கெனவே பாதிக்கும் மேல் மட்டை கார்விங் செய்துள்ளதால், இந்த இளநீரை துளையிட கத்தி அல்லது வீட்டில் இருக்கும் கரண்டி போதுமானது. ஃபிரிட்ஜில் வைத்தால் 20 நாட்கள் வரை கெடாது, இடத்தையும் அடைக்காது” என்றார்.
மேலும் அவர் கூறியபோது, “தாய்லாந்து நாட்டினர் இந்த வகையில் இளநீரை பேக் செய்து உலகம் முழுவதும் ஏற்றுமதி செய்கின்றனர். தற்போது ஆஸ்திரேலியாவில் இருந்து என்னிடம் இந்த வகையில் இளநீர் பேக் செய்து தர ஆர்டர் கொடுத்துள்ளனர். முதற்கட்டமாக இந்தமாதம் ஒரு கன்டெய்னரில் 6 ஆயிரம் இளநீர் ஏற்றுமதி செய்யப்பட உள்ளது. சென்னையில் இருந்து கடல் வழியாக 20 நாட்களில் ஆஸ்திரேலியாவைச் சென்றடையும்” என்றார் அவர்.
சூழலுக்கு ஏற்றவாறு மாற்றி யோசித்து அதற்கு செயல் வடிவம் கொடுத்ததுடன் ஆஸ்திரேலியாவுக்கு நம் ஊர் இளநீரை ஏற்றுமதி செய்யும் காஜாமுகமதுவுக்கு எழுதப் படிக்கத் தெரியாது என்பது ஆச்சரியமாக இருக்கிறது. இவ்வளவு மெனக்கெட்டு உருவாக்கப்படும் இந்த இளநீரை மொத்தவிலைக்கு ரூ.20-க்கு விற்கிறார். சில்லறைக் கடைகளில் இதை ரூ.25-க்கு விற்கிறார்கள்.
SOURCE:::: ஜி.ஞானவேல்முருகன் in http://tamil.thehindu.com/
Natarajan
” Who Invented the Elevator …” ?
The history of the elevator, if you define it as a platform that can move people and objects up and down, is actually a rather long one. Rudimentary elevators are known to have been in use in ancient Rome as far back as 336 B.C., with the first reference of one built by the talented Archimedes.
These early elevators were open cars rather than enclosed ones, and consisted of a platform with hoists that would enable the car to move vertically. The hoists were typically worked manually, either by people or animals, though sometimes water wheels were used. Romans continued to use these simple elevators for many years, usually to move water, building materials, or other heavy items from one place to another.
As for the dedicated passenger elevator, this was created in the 18th century, with one of the first used by King Louis XV in 1743. He had an elevator constructed at Versailles that would carry him from his apartments on the first floor to his mistress’ apartments on the second floor. This elevator wasn’t much more technologically advanced than those used in Rome. To make it work, men stationed in a chimney pulled on the ropes. They called it a “flying chair.”
It wasn’t until the 1800s that elevator technology really started to advance. For starters, elevators no longer needed to be worked manually. In 1823, two British architects—Burton and Hormer—built a steam-powered “ascending room” to take tourists up to a platform for a view of London. Several years later, their invention was expanded upon by architects Frost and Stutt who added a belt and counter-weight to the steam power.
Soon enough, hydraulic systems began to be created as well, using water pressure to raise and lower the elevator car. However, this wasn’t practical in some cases—pits had to be dug below the elevator shaft to enable the piston to pull back. The higher the elevator went, the deeper the pit had to be. Thus, this wasn’t a viable option for taller buildings in big cities.
So despite the hydraulic systems being somewhat safer than steam-powered/cabled elevators, the steam powered ones with cables and counterweights, stuck around. They had just one major drawback: the cables could snap, and sometimes did, which sent the elevator plummeting to the bottom of the shaft, killing passengers and damaging building materials or other items being transported. Needless to say, no one was jumping to get on these dangerous elevators and so passenger elevators up to this point were largely a novelty.
The man who solved the elevator safety problem, making skyscrapers possible, was Elisha Otis, who is generally known as the inventor of the modern elevator. In 1852, Otis came up with a design that had a safety “brake.” In the event that the cables broke, a wooden frame at the top of the elevator car would snap out and hit the walls of the shaft, stopping the elevator in its tracks.
Otis himself demonstrated the device, which he called a “safety hoist,” at the New York World’s Fair in 1854, when he went up in a make-shift elevator himself and had the ropes cut. Rather than plummeting to his death as the audience thought might happen, his safety hoist snapped out, catching the elevator within seconds. Needless to say, the crowd was impressed.
Otis went on to found his own elevator company, which installed the first public elevator in a New York building in 1874. The Otis Elevator Company is still known today as the world’s largest elevator manufacturer.
While the cable elevator design has remained, many additional improvements have been made, the most obvious of which is that elevators now run on electricity rather than steam power, a change that came about starting in the 1880s. The electric elevator was patented by Alexander Miles in 1887, though one had been built by the German inventor Werner von Siemens in 1880.
Otis’ safety hoist wasn’t the end of safety innovation, either. These days, it’s virtually impossible for an elevator to plummet and kill passengers. There are now multiple steel cables to hold the elevator’s weight, plus a number of different braking systems to stop an elevator from falling if the cables somehow snap. If, despite all these safety measures, the elevator does fall, there are shock absorbers at the bottom of the shaft, making it unlikely death will occur and reducing the possibility of serious injury.
SOURCE:::www.today i foundout.com
Natarajan
Image of the Day…Moon Set Behind Trees…
Moonset behind trees
Increasingly golden or orange color as the moon sets is due to the fact that – as it sinks – you’re seeing the moon through more and more of Earth’s atmosphere.
Ken Christison posted this photo to EarthSky Facebook and wrote:
Watching the moon set behind the trees. I always liked to get clean images of the moon, but this morning I just kept it running through the trees. I think it does add to the whole atmosphere.
SOURCE::::Deborah Byrd IN earthsky.org Photo By …Ken Christison
Natarajan
Few Surprising Facts about the Fall of Berlin Wall …
Nov. 9 marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the iconic barrier that completely enclosed East Berlin between 1961 and 1989 and symbolized the height of Cold War tensions.
West Berliners crowd in front of the Berlin Wall Nov. 11, 1989, as they watch East German border guards demolish a section to open a crossing point.
Around the world, the international German community and others are marking the milestone with celebrations and shared memories. In Germany, artists have recreated the Wall with illuminated white balloons along the path that the structure once traced. The 8,000 balloons stretch more than nine miles across the city, according to the German embassy in London.
With the anniversary putting the Cold War fresh in most people’s minds, here are nine facts about the Berlin Wall that may be new to you:
• A mistake helped lead to the fall of the Wall. The flood of East Germans and West Germans to the Wall, which led to its ultimate collapse, came after East German Politburo member Guenther Schabowski on Nov. 9, 1989, mistakenly announced that East Germans would be allowed to cross into West Germany effective immediately, according to National Public Radio.
• What the world saw as the Berlin Wall was actually two concrete barriers with a 160-yard “death strip” in between that included watchtowers, trenches, runs for guard dogs, flood lights and trip-wire machine guns, according to History.com.
• Parts of the Wall are on display or in private safekeeping all over the world. One section of the Wall is in a men’s room of the Main Street Casino in Las Vegas, History.com reports. Urinals are mounted on the graffiti-covered segment, which is protected by glass. Another section is in the gardens of the Vatican. If you don’t feel like traveling to Italy or Vegas to see a part of the Wall, you can have your own little slice for as little as $10 on eBay. And you can consider that a steal; an 8,000-pound slab went for $23,500 at an Atlanta auction
• A mass exodus of East Germans into West Germany began almost 15 years before the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961. In fact, so many left that by the time the Wall went up, East Germany lost one-sixth of its population, according to the Berlin Wall Memorial website.
• The Wall and several U.S. presidents shared a relationship. President Kennedy visited in the summer of 1963, not long before his assassination that November. He said in a rousing speech that Berlin could help the world understand the divisions between the Communist and non-Communist world.
In 1987, Reagan challenged Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “Tear down this wall” during a June 1987 speech near the Wall.
When Clinton visited in 1994, he told the crowd of Berliners, “You have proved that no Wall can forever contain the mighty power of freedom.”
During President Obama’s June 2013 visit, he noted neither he nor German Chancellor Angela Merkel looked like their predecessors.
“The fact that we can stand here today, along the fault line where a city was divided, speaks to an eternal truth: No wall can stand against the yearning of justice, the yearnings for freedom, the yearnings for peace that burns in the human heart,” he said.
• The formal reunification of East and West Germany did not happen until Oct. 3, 1990, almost a year after the fall of the Wall, according to History.com.
• A July 1988 concert by Bruce Springsteen in East Berlin may have led to the growing sense of dissent in the walled city that contributed to the fall of the Wall, according to the CBC. “The Boss” told the crowd in German, “I’ve come to play rock ‘n’ roll for you in the hope that one day all the barriers will be torn down.”
Another in the U.S. music industry, conductor Leonard Bernstein, performed a series of concerts in venues on both sides of the barrier just weeks after the November 1989 fall of the Wall. Bernstein’s international orchestra included musicians from the four countries that had occupied Berlin after World War II: the United States, the former Soviet Union, France and England. Bernstein led Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and altered its final movement, “Ode to Joy,” to become “Ode to Freedom.”
• Some parts of the barrier became world famous. Checkpoint Charlie, formally known as Checkpoint C, was the nickname that Western Allies gave the best-known border crossing point between East and West Berlin.
Also, the Brandenburg Gate is an 18th-century arch that is built on the site of a former gate that marked the start of a road that led from Berlin to the town of Brandenburg. Because of its location, it was associated with the Berlin Wall for a time.
• The physical demolition of the Berlin Wall was not complete until 1992, according to the BBC.
SOURCE::::www.usatoday.com
Natarajan
Virgin Galactic disaster: Survivor Pilot’s Version…
THE pilot who miraculously survived the Virgin spaceship disaster has revealed how he was blasted from the wreckage of the disintegrating rocket ship and plummeted nearly ten miles back to Earth.
Having suffered serious injuries, the experienced test pilot only regained consciousness halfway into his fall but was composed enough to give a thumbs-up to colleagues in a passing aircraft to show he was alive.
Peter Siebold spoke for the first time about the tragedy that killed his close friend, copilot Mike Alsbury, revealing he blacked out as the craft broke up around him at 50,000ft but was saved by his emergency parachute.
Siebold, 43, a married father of two, said: “I must have lost consciousness at first. I can’t remember anything about what happened but I must have come to during the fall. I remember waving to the chase plane and giving them the thumbs-up to tell them I was OK. I know it’s a miracle I survived.”
Perished … Mike Alsbury was a close friend and colleague of Peter Siebold. Source: AP
Survivor … Peter Siebold can’t remember much of what happened that day. Source: AP
The Mail on Sunday reported that despite his injuries, Siebold — who is yet to speak to crash investigators — returned home to his family on Monday, just three days after Sir Richard Branson’s SpaceShipTwo tore apart.
He gave his amazing account of survival to his father, Dr Klaus Siebold, who visited him yesterday at his modest ranch home in Tehachapi, California, on the edge of the Mojave Desert where the spaceship crashed.
CRASHING DOWN: Is this the end of Branson’s space dreams?
PILOT IDENTIFIED: Michael Alsbury named as the man who perished.
LONG ROAD AHEAD: Investigation may take a year
Dr Siebold, who is also a pilot, travelled to California from his home in Seattle to see his son. He said Peter was in good spirits despite suffering serious injuries, including a shattered shoulder.
Both pilots were strapped into standard pilot seats and wearing thin flight suits and emergency parachutes when SpaceShipTwo was released from its mothership WhiteKnightTwo shortly after 10am on October 31.
Explosion … These three images show the space craft’s demise. Source: AP
The craft’s rocket was ignited at 50,000ft (15.24km). The pilots, wearing oxygen masks, were pinned against their seats by gravitational forces as the craft accelerated at more than 1500km/h.
Then disaster occurred. Preliminary investigations suggest that the rocket ship’s folding wings — designed to slow it down and achieve safe speeds during landing — deployed early, causing the ship to break up due to the tremendous turbulence around the craft.
Alsbury was trapped in the cockpit but Siebold was thrown clear of the wreckage or somehow unbuckled his seatbelt. He then plunged towards Earth at speeds topping 193km/h. Witnesses reported seeing Siebold descending with part of the base of his seat still attached. It is likely that his oxygen mask, attached to a portable tank, remained in place. But at that altitude, the sudden decompression and extreme G-forces would have caused him to black out in seconds.
His emergency parachute deployed t about 20,000ft. It is not known if he pulled the cord or if it unfurled automatically. Both pilots were wearing parachutes calibrated to open automatically at a certain height in the event they became unconscious during an emergency.
Incredible … Siebold has no idea how he managed to exit the space ship, given it has no ejection seat. Source: AFP
Dr Siebold, 79, explained: “He doesn’t know how he managed to exit SpaceShipTwo. They don’t have an ejection seat. They have a panel they take out and they have to crawl towards the hole and jump out. But the plane broke up suddenly. I’m sure he was unconscious because he could not have maintained consciousness at 50,000ft.
“He doesn’t remember anything from the actual crash. He came to during the descent. He must have woken up about halfway down. When he was on the way down the chase plane was circling him and he was waving and giving the thumbs-up to indicate he was all right while he was dangling from the parachute.
“He’s recovering at home. He broke the head of the humerus bone that sits in the right shoulder. He’s got a rib and lung contusion and there is an issue with his eyes because of the cold. It was around minus 60 degrees up there.
“It’s a medical miracle he survived considering the temperature, the lack of oxygen and the barotrauma [injury caused by a sudden change in pressure].”
The pilot’s horrified wife, Traci, and children 12-year-old Alexandra and Nick, nine, were standing with the family of Mike Alsbury as the tragedy unfolded.
The body of Alsbury, 39, was found still strapped into his seat on a desert road by construction workers. His parachute did not deploy. His wife Michelle said she had “lost the love of my life”.
Dr Siebold said: “Mike’s children and my grandchildren were all watching the flight so the emotional impact of that is tremendous.
Mike, second from right, was a friend and neighbour of Siebold. Source: Supplied
“Mike was a friend and neighbour. Their children are the same age and friends. Peter is asking himself whether he could have done more and why he got out and Mike didn’t? Traci is a strong woman. She’s drained but very much in charge.
“She’s protecting Peter and she’s holding up incredibly well most of the time. He’s on pain medication, which is making him tired and confused.” Dr Siebold, who split with Peter’s mother Barbara when his son was five, spoke proudly of teaching his son to fly: “Flying was the only thing Peter was ever really interested in. I flew privately — that was my recreation — so he grew up with it. It’s what we did together. We would go to the airport after school.”
At 16, Siebold studied aviation at California State University and landed a job with Scaled Composites — the company conducting last week’s test flight for Virgin Galactic — before he graduated.
“He worked as an engineer and pilot, starting from the bottom and working his way up,” Dr Siebold said proudly.
Siebold began working as a test pilot and engineer with Virgin Galactic at the start of its space program a decade ago.
“He told me straight away he was involved with Virgin Galactic,” his father continued. “Safety was a great concern but I had total confidence in his piloting skills.
“Peter would say, ‘These aeroplanes fly just beautifully.’ He was never worried about the safety aspect of it.”
Big sky dreaming … Sir Richard Branson vowed to become an astronaut by the end of the year. Source: AP
The October 31 flight was so routine that Dr Siebold had no idea his son was piloting the pioneering craft that day until his panicked daughter-in-law phoned.
“I picked up the phone oblivious to what had happened. I said, ‘Hi Traci, how are you?’ cheerful as usual and she said, ‘It’s serious. Peter had an accident. We don’t know exactly but it looks like he hurt his shoulder and he’s on his way to the hospital.’
“We were worried but the main thing was we knew he was alive.
“I hope he’s going to recover enough to be able to fly again. That’s his life. We’re focusing hour to hour rather than day to day.”
Yesterday, it was revealed that 24 passengers who have paid $A290,000 each for the chance to go into space — alongside celebrities including Angelina Jolie and Kate Winslet — have demanded their money back.
Virgin Galactic chief executive George Whitesides claimed it was unsurprising passengers had pulled out, adding: “I think what is relevant is that the vast majority have said, ‘Don’t give up, keep going, we’re with you’.”
Before the accident, billionaire Sir Richard Branson vowed he and son Sam would become astronauts by the end of this year and the first space tourist flights would begin next spring. But the Virgin Galactic project has been beset by years of delays and safety fears, including previous accidents with SpaceShipOne which necessitated a redesign of the ship’s engines and fuel.
The investigation into this month’s crash is now likely to delay any commercial flight for at least another year. But Branson has vowed to press ahead with the project, while acknowledging the risks taken by his test pilots. Last night, Mr Whitesides paid tribute to Siebold, saying: “It will be regarded as one of the most amazing test flight survival stories of all time.
SOURCE:::: Peter Sheridan IN NEWS.COM.AU
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