NASA astronaut supports commercial spaceflight

Space station astronaut Reid Wiseman, preparing to return to Earth this weekend after 165 days in orbit, said Monday commercial spaceflight represents the "next breakthrough" in aerospace technology, and that he hopes Virgin Galactic can ultimately turn that dream into reality despite the fatal crash of the company's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane Friday.

In an interview with CBS News, Wiseman reflected on the SpaceShipTwo mishap and the loss of a space station cargo ship three days earlier, saying "it's tough to watch anything like that."

"I have friends at both of those companies that are working on this, and that touches me pretty closely," he said. "A couple of them are test pilots that I've worked with in the past and I've gotten to know pretty well. So for us personally, it's always tough to see that sort of thing.

"The great part about this industry is, it will be better at the end for both of these mistakes, or mishaps, and we'll pull through. ... We'll figure out what happened, and if it's the correct time we'll fly again, both of these vehicles, and if they determine that they can't, then we'll look for other options down the road. This is a setback that happens in this industry, and there will be recovery, there will be healing, and then there will be success down the road."

But Wiseman said space travel will never be completely safe, "especially not in the launch and landing industry."

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Virgin Galactic's Spaceship Two, designed to carry tourists into space, crashed in California's Mojave Desert Friday. The cause of the crash is s...

"But every time you get in your car and drive down the highway there is always a chance, or get in an airplane or even just a thunderstorm passes by and knocks a tree over," he said. "That's part of life, and there's always risk with everything we do. And to me, sometimes the risk is definitely worth the reward. And up here, the reward, at least to me, is huge. So it's worth it."

Virgin Galactic had hoped to begin commercial flights with SpaceShipTwo starting next spring. Designed to carry a crew of two and up to six passengers at a time, the spaceplane is dropped from a carrier jet and then uses a hybrid rocket motor to climb out of the dense lower atmosphere, providing a few minutes of weightlessness -- and an out-of-this-world view -- before gliding back to Earth. Hundreds of would-be astronauts have signed up to fly, paying up to $250,000 a ticket.

But during a test flight Friday, SpaceShipTwo was destroyed a few seconds after its rocket motor ignited high above the Mojave Desert. Pilot Peter Siebold managed to get out of the disintegrating aircraft for a parachute descent to Earth. Co-pilot Michael Alsbury was killed.

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NASA astronaut supports commercial spaceflight