Jack Delosa - Unwritten

In testing the boundaries of human capabilities and
technologies, we are standing on the shoulders
of giants. Yesterday, we fell short.

O n 31 October 2014, Virgin Galactics SpaceShipTwo embarked from the Mojave Air and Space Port on a flight that would test its new rocket engine and fuel. Piloted by 43-year-old Peter Siebold and his 39-year-old co-pilot Michael Alsbury, the spaceplane took off under its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft.

Just ten years earlier, in 2004, Sir Richard Branson founded Virgin Galactic with the vision of making space travel accessible to everyone. Owning 400 companies across the Virgin Group empire, Branson has been knighted at Buckingham Palace for services to entrepreneurship and has an estimated net worth of $5 billion. Today, he has a strong focus on philanthropy and space travel. Among Virgin Galactics ambitions are to establish the first hotel in space and to run a two-hour commercial flight from London to Sydney by travelling outside the Earths atmosphere.

At an altitude of 50,000 feet, SpaceShipTwo broke away from WhiteKnightTwo and fired its new engine as planned. Nine seconds after ignition, the tail booms of the spaceplane unexpectedly began to swing upwards, increasing the drag as it accelerated. Two seconds later, SpaceShipTwo began to disintegrate mid-flight.

Peter Siebold was thrust from the craft, ejecting his parachute and returning to Earth with serious injuries. Co-pilot Michael Alsbury tragically lost his life in the crash.

The team of 400 Virgin Galactic staff watching from the Space Port witnessed the shattering of a decade of hope, only to quickly learn that they had also lost the life of one of their close friends and colleagues, Michael Alsbury. This was an incredibly sad day for Virgin Galactic. The team of scientists and engineers had worked tirelessly to test the boundaries of human possibility while doing everything in their power to ensure the safety of the brave test pilots.

The worlds media immediately turned its attention to Virgin Galactic and its founder, Sir Richard Branson. What had happened? Who was to blame? What would Branson do now?

On that day in October 2014, I was on my way to visit Branson on Necker Island. I was part of a small group of people invited to spend time on Necker with Richard. As we were flying in, he was of course now heading out to California to meet with the family of Michael Alsbury and his team of 400, to mourn with them and to work out what to do next.

Branson spent a day in California at the Mojave Space Port, taking the time to console everyone who was affected, to offer his counsel and to get a feel for the resolve of the team in the wake of such an accident. Upon his return to Necker Island the next day, I noticed he was visibly upset by the events of the previous two days. When we asked him why he came back to Necker to see us, he simply replied, Because I said I would.

A small group of us sat with Branson in The Temple House, a room he had purposefully built for a non- governmental organisation called The Elders, which he had initiated in 2007. The Elders brings together 12 of the most influential and revered people in the world to tackle the planets biggest challenges and to help resolve major conflicts, from their unique platform of political independence. Members of The Elders have at various times included Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan and Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States. The Temple House is a beautiful building constructed with 12 sides, one for each member of The Elders. We all appreciated the importance of the special room in which we were gathered.

Branson sat in his board shorts, feet up on his coffee table, talking to us about what had happened and what he had been through over the last two days. It was important I went there, he said. Its important that as leaders we front up to any sort of tragedy. It was important for me to speak to the family of the test-pilot who we lost and be with the team. He went on to explain that it was essential for him to feel how everyone was. The clear picture he gained of what had happened and how everyone felt about it gave him the knowledge and confidence to decide on their next steps. They needed to know that the space program would continue, that what they had given a good chunk of their lives for would not be for nothing. And then, as his voice started to waver and his eyes filled with tears from thinking about the 400 people he obviously cared deeply for, he finished, They needed to know that they werent going to lose their jobs.

To sit with one of the greatest business leaders of all time in the midst of the largest crisis of his career was eye-opening for me because it revealed so much of Bransons humanity.

Throughout that week, Branson was not only excusing himself from conversations to focus on phone calls from the regulatory bodies involved in the crash investigation but was also finding himself the focus of the worlds media. Speculative journalism meant that headlines were being splashed across the likes of CNN, The New York Times and the UK Telegraph : Virgin Galactic crash: Dont let more die, Richard Branson told; Branson should stick to mobile phones, says expert; Branson spaceship explosion: the missed warnings.

Its important to note that all of the news stories had come out before the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had released any findings on the cause of the accident. While the NTSB was still investigating, Branson and Virgin Galactic could not publicly comment on what had happened due to any discussion being classified as speculation. While Branson and his team had to follow due process, the media did not, and they went on saying whatever they wanted, pointing the finger and being as radical as they liked without fear of any repercussions. Branson would later remark, We found it uncomfortable over the weekend when so many self-proclaimed experts in the UK came out saying there had been an explosion. Were pleased the [investigators] came out and categorically denied that.

The next day, after sitting across from Branson over lunch as he and I discussed whats wrong with traditional education and what needs to happen for it to improve, I decided to go for a walk along one of Neckers many beautiful beaches. After a few hundred metres, I came to the tennis club, nestled between the beach on one side and the lush green forest on the other. There, alone on a beanbag, Branson was sitting, still in his board shorts, deep in thought, peering out into space.