Putting Things Into Perspective

Tragedy in the New Space Race, MSNBC

"In comments to The Associated Press, X Prize founder Peter Diamandis took a similar tack. "This was an industrial accident. This has nothing to do with spaceflight," he was quoted as saying. On a technical level, Diamandis is totally correct: The accident is outside the jurisdiction of the Federal Aviation Administration, and is being handled as an occupational safety matter by Scaled, the Mojave Airport and Spaceport, and the state of California. But when you set aside the technicalities, the cause that brought Glenn May, Eric Blackwell and Todd Ivens to Mojave has everything to do with spaceflight."