Investigation of the in-flight break up and crash of SpaceShipTwo is a first for the National Transportation Safety Board. While the NTSB assisted in the investigations of the NASA-launched Columbia and Challenger accidents, this is the first manned, commercial space accident that the NTSB will be leading. Under an agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration, which is charged with regulating commercial space transportation, the NTSB will be heading up the investigation with the FAA as a party. When Congress made the FAA responsible for commercial space transportation, it failed to make the NTSB responsible for investigations of any accidents resulting from that transportation which is why the investigation is being done through an inter-agency agreement.

As an NTSB Member at the time of the Columbia accident, I participated in various stages of the investigation, including observing the reconstruction of the space shuttle. At the time of the Columbia investigation, NASA collected tremendous amounts of data, certainly as compared to the data typically collected by commercial aircraft. Over a thousand data points were collected as the space shuttle returned to earth. This included data typically recorded on aircraft flight data recorders such as speed, altitude and direction but also hundreds of other data points of significance to engineers down to the position of a multitude of valves and switches. Of particular significance in the investigation of the Columbia accident was the ability to trace the trajectory of the space shuttle as it began its break up over Hawaii and ultimately came to rest in Louisiana and Texas. With the trajectory established, investigators were able to locate debris that assisted in the determination of what caused the Columbia to break apart on re-entry. The probable cause was determined to be a failure of the thermal tiles which left portions of the space shuttle unprotected from the high heat of re-entry, causing structural failure and ultimately the break-up of the space craft.

The NTSB investigation of the SpaceShipTwo accident will be aided by unprecedented amounts of data, in particular the multiple video feeds of the space craft at the time of break up. In addition to ground cameras, there were multiple cameras on the space craft, as well as in a chase airplane flying behind the SpaceShipTwo. The video will help investigators understand how the space craft came apart in flight. For example, the NTSB briefing last night by acting Chairman Chris Hart, indicated that the first pieces in the 5-mile debris field were from the tail section. This would indicate to investigators that these were the first pieces to come off the aircraft. If the video captured the in-flight break up, as I expect it will, it will show the sequence of events initiating the break up and the progression of the break up. This will provide vital information to the teams investigating the accident from a structural perspective and help the team form recommendations for materials and future designs.