Michael Alsbury, the pilot of the Virgin Galactic, was found dead and strapped to his seat after the aircraft nearly disintegrated. His co-pilot somehow managed to survive with “a parachute but no spacesuit to protect him from the lethal environment as he plunged toward Earth at close to the speed of a bullet.”

+ “Not many pilots wanted to tell shrinks about break-off. Talking about your feelings was the opposite of what you were supposed to do as a hyper-masculine alpha pilot, and some refused to share their experiences for fear of sounding corny.” FastCo’s Sydney Brownstone on the coming of space tourism, and the psychological impact of the break-off effect.

+ Vanity Fair on the human factor: Should airplanes be flying themselves?