After Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo crashed into California's Mojave Desert,
killing one test pilot and injuring the other, some of the people who
planned to ride the rocket plane to the edge of outer space asked for
their money back. Others said they were unfazed.
And then there was the customer who wasn't sure.
On the night of the
accident, that customer made a phone call to Craig Willan, a veteran of
the aerospace industry who's No. 8 on Virgin Galactic's passenger list.
Without disclosing the caller's identity, Willan told NBC News that the
man had been planning to cancel his reservation the following Monday.
"I told him, 'Don't,'"
Willan recalled. "Don't do it. You don't want to get into that for a
couple of reasons. One is, it would be a potential run on the bank. And
the second thing is, it sends the wrong signal to humankind. This is a
very important phase in the gestation of something new, and we don't
want to screw up this pregnancy.
"It turns out he did not ask for a refund," Willan said.
More than 700 customers
have signed up to fly with Virgin Galactic, paying as much as $250,000
for a ticket. The loss of SpaceShipTwo on Oct. 31 has given even the
most die-hard "Future Astronauts" an opportunity to reassess their
decision.
Virgin Galactic says about 3 percent of the customers, or roughly two dozen, have sought a refund so far.
“We are humbled that all
but a small percentage of our Future Astronaut community is, if
possible, more committed than before," Clare Pelly, astronaut experience
manager at Virgin Galactic, told NBC News in an email. "Also, the tiny
minority requesting refunds are largely all supportive of the project,
but due to personal circumstances have decided time is no longer on
their side for their spaceflight."
One example is Peter Ulrich von May, a Swiss-based asset manager who told The Independent
he wanted out. "I subscribed seven years ago at 63, am still an active
private pilot and in good health but who knows how long it will now
take," he told the British newspaper.
The list of no-shows
also reportedly includes Princess Beatrice of York. "Beatrice was
excited by the idea of space tourism, but there is no way she will be
going on one of the flights, if they are ever allowed to take place,"
the Daily Mail quoted an unnamed source close to Buckingham Palace as saying.
On the flip side of the
ledger, Pelly said two customers have signed up for a ride since the
crash, specifically to show support for Virgin Galactic.
"I'm a believer, and the
fact that things got harder make[s] me believe my support, however
small, may be more useful now. Sign me up. I'm in," Virgin Galactic
quoted one customer as saying in an email. (The email was shared on the
condition that the writer's name was not disclosed, because that writer
did not give assent to be named publicly.)
Thinking about the risks
Willan is all in. He's an aerospace engineer
who has dealt with issues related to the space shuttle program as well
as the Pan Am jetliner crash in Lockerbie in 1988. So he's well aware of
the risks that any flight program entails.
"Back in 2011, I
journeyed to China and Yuneec Aircraft Company to get my electric
airplane," Willan said. "Five days before we arrived, they had a fatal
crash. The company and all its people were devastated with the loss of a
single pilot. I stepped in at a crucial moment in the company's history
... to offer an American perspective: that being American, we have
always believed that the gift of flight was special and non-negotiable.
The gift of flight is more precious than human life. I feel that and
believe that."
John Makely / NBC News
To Willan, it made a
difference that the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation
did not turn up a problem with SpaceShipTwo's propulsion system, but
instead has been focusing on premature deployment of its wing-feathering system.
"If I got a call from
Scaled Composites [which was testing the rocket plane] or Virgin
Galactic, telling me they'd like me to fly in the back seat as a test
engineer, I would be on an airplane to Mojave so fast it would scare the
jackrabbits," he said.
'Ballsy move'
Ian Bailey,
a Virgin Galactic customer from New Zealand, said he was still "150
percent committed to this." Like Willan, he's been a close follower of
the NTSB investigation as well as Virgin Galactic's response. He has
faith that if the investigation turns up something that Virgin Galactic
needs to fix, "they'll fix it."
"I'm happy that they're
talking about restarting in April of next year," Bailey, who made his
mark in the electronic payment industry, told NBC News. "To my mind,
that shows they've got some serious balls. It's a ballsy move."
John Makely / NBC News
Chinese-American journalist Xin Liu, who was a teammate of Bailey's during a high-G training session in May, said SpaceShipTwo's crash came as a tragic blow — but she's hanging onto her ticket nevertheless.
"I never thought it was
easy when I signed up, and really nobody knows how it will affect each
participant physically and emotionally until one takes the actual
flight," she told NBC News in an email. "I believe that most of us knew
it was risky when we signed up."
A similar vote of support came from Derek Handley, another New Zealander who has a SpaceShipTwo ticket and went through a zero-gravity practice session earlier this year. He's the "entrepreneur in residence" at the B Team, a not-for-profit initiative led by Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson.
As he was watching TV
coverage of the crash, Handley never questioned whether he'd keep his
SpaceShipTwo reservation. "We signed on because this is one of those
dreams humans have had for centuries and centuries — going into space,
going to the stars," he told NBC News. But he did wonder what his
friends and family would think.
"They were all very
supportive," Handley said. "People know that when you're trying to do
something like this, there are risks that you need to take. That's part
of the program. Virgin Galactic has always stressed that safety was
their No. 1 priority, and I think that's why the customers are still
committed."
One of Handley's
teammates on the zero-G flight, Cheryl Howard Crew, brought a unique
combination of perspectives to the SpaceShipTwo aftermath. She's an
author who has taken some risky research trips through Afghanistan and
Pakistan — but she's also the wife of filmmaker Ron Howard, who
documented the risks of spaceflight in "Apollo 13."
Even when Howard Crew
heard about the crash, she didn't have "a second thought" about her plan
to fly into space with Virgin Galactic.
"My first thoughts were
that I expected a much bigger outpouring of support from the
professionals," she told NBC News. "When my husband made 'Apollo 13,' I
had the pleasure of being with him when he talked with the astronauts,
and the whole thing for them was discovery — the mandate for our
species. It wasn't so much a race against the Soviets, it was a race
against time. They just wanted to be around long enough to push it
forward. And it's the same for me."
NBCUniversal established a multi-platform partnership with Virgin Galactic
to track the development of SpaceShipTwo. This report draws upon
interviews with Virgin Galactic customers who have agreed to be
contacted by NBC News for occasional updates on their status. If
additional customers respond to requests for interviews, their comments
will be reported in follow-up items.
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