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Michael Alsbury, the co-pilot killed during a test flight of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo is being described as an expert pilot and engineer who had 15 years of flying experience, much of it on experimental aircraft.

Alsbury, 39, was killed Friday when the prototype of the reusable space plane, designed for suborbital tourist flights, apparently broke apart in mid-air over the Mojave Desert. Pilot Peter Siebold, 43, managed to eject and parachuted to safety. Siebold is described as alert and talking.

Our thoughts are with Mike Alsbury's family, and we wish for a quick and complete recovery for Pete Siebold. http://t.co/5tTvgA569R

— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) November 1, 2014

Alsbury was "a respected and devoted colleague," according to a statement Saturday from Scaled Composites, the company developing the spaceship for Virgin Galactic.

"Without mincing words or really embellishing anything ... I consider Mike Alsbury the renaissance man," Brian Binnie, another test pilot who worked at Scaled Composites for 14 years before leaving the company in February, according to The Associated Press. "He could do it all. He was an engineer. He was a pilot. He worked well with others. He had a great sense of humor. I never heard him raise his voice or lose his cool."

At a news conference on Saturday, the acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Christopher Hart, said the investigation of the crash could take up to a year, a time frame that is certain to set back plans by Billionaire Richard Branson's company to begin commercial flights next year.

Hart said the test flight had been "heavily documented" and that it could take "about 12 months or so" to pore through "extensive data."

Space.com quotes witness Doug Messier, managing editor of Parabolicarc.com, as saying he saw the spacecraft's engine sputter when it first ignited after being released from the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft.

"It looked like the engine didn't perform properly," Messier told Space.com. "Normally it would burn and it would burn for a certain period of time. It looked like it may have started and then stopped and then started again."

Branson, whose company has reportedly taken deposits on some 700 advance bookings at $250,000 a seat – including from such celebrities as Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, said he is "determined to find out what went wrong."

Last year, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who spent five months as commander of the International Space Station, questioned the value of the Virgin Galactic venture, saying so-called space tourists are "just going to go up and fall back down again."

The Guardian reports: "Hadfield nonetheless praises the Virgin Galactic concept, under which passengers who have booked seats with a $250,000 deposit will fly to 68 miles above Earth and experience zero gravity. He says the Virgin chief, Richard Branson, has been in touch with him for advice."

Virgin Galactic

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is one of the most powerful politicians in America. She's the top-ranking woman in the House GOP, and her political ambitions and trajectory have been debated everywhere from Capitol Hill to the pages of Glamour magazine. But when she walks into locally owned businesses like Maid Naturally in Spokane, Wash., she's just Cathy.

In the final week before the election, she stopped by the Spokane-based cleaning business and sits down to chat with co-founders Ruthanne Eberly and Heather Brown. McMorris Rodgers puts them at ease quickly, and before long the three women are swapping stories about what it's like to balance family and work.

"Do you have some tips now as to how to keep employees longer?" McMorris Rodgers asks the pair, who launched their business together in 2006. Since then they've expanded, moving from working out of their homes to a larger space.

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Eberly and Brown agree that keeping their employees around, especially in a business where people tend to come and go, comes down to building strong relationships.

That's something McMorris Rodgers understands. She's built a career on it.

"I find myself reminding people that Congress is also built on relationships," she tells them. "It's about building relationships. It's like anything you do in life, and you have to make that a priority."

McMorris Rodgers has a few priorities: Representing Eastern Washington in the House — a job she's held for a decade — and heading up the House Republican Conference where she is one of just 19 women.

The 45-year-old also has three young children. Her 1-year-old daughter flew cross-country with her during her most recent trip back to Spokane.

"I was single when I was elected, then I got married," she tells Eberly and Brown. "So I kind of eased into it. Got used to the business up-front, then I got married, added the kids."

This is how McMorris Rodgers connects with the women she meets on the trail, the very people her party needs to attract. She's down-to-earth, folksy even, and she makes everything personal.

But she is also politically savvy.

McMorris Rodgers says she never dreamed she'd be in politics herself, but she was appointed to the Washington statehouse at the age of 25. She went on to beat two members of the leadership to become the state's first female minority leader. Then, she decided to run for Congress.

"I just decided I was going to muster up all the courage I had, be a risk-taker, go see what I could do," she says.

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First elected to Congress in 2004, McMorris Rodgers is set to easily win re-election to a sixth term. But she's not taking that for granted. All in one day this week, she participated in a debate with Democrat Joe Pakootas, visited local businesses, chatted with eighth graders at a middle school and fired up a Republican women's group.

She often brings up her roles as a wife and mother while campaigning, saying the challenges she faces are just like any other working mom in America. But she bristles at the notion that she's "window dressing" for a party trying to refresh its brand.

"That's what the critics like to suggest," she says when asked about the public debate over whether her rise is simply because she's a woman. "Even when I was asked to give the response to the State of the Union this year, there were some that immediately started saying 'Well, it's only because she was a woman' versus that I was someone who could really connect with people or that I could deliver an effective message on behalf of the Republicans."

McMorris Rodgers says she wants to see more women run — and get elected — to Congress. That's why she's taken on a leadership role, raising money for female Republicans and mentoring them, too.

"So many women have never even considered running for office themselves. They think that's something someone else does," she says.

McMorris Rodgers says she knows what that's like. Before she decided to run for Congress, she'd been thinking about getting out of politics.

Now, a decade later, she says she doesn't want to be a "seat warmer." She wants to maximize her opportunities and her influence.

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She chose not to enter the race to be House Republican whip after Eric Cantor, who was defeated in a primary, chose to leave his leadership post. She says she's excited for another year serving as GOP conference chair.

But there appears to be a path open for McMorris Rodgers. The question is: does she want it?

Asked point-blank what her next chapter looks like, she says "we'll see."

"One thing about serving in Congress, it kind of comes in these two-year chunks," she says. "For the next Congress, I'm seeking to continue to serve as conference chair. And we'll see what other opportunities come. So much of that is being the right person at the right time."

This Tuesday, NPR is hosting a virtual election viewing party, and we want you to join us.

NPR's politics team has put together a nifty little web-based app designed to let listeners at home follow the results of races around the country along with our hosts on their TVs, Google Chromecast, iPads or laptops. You'll tap into the same real-time results that our hosts and reporters see.

Still, you can't have a party without good grub. So the Washington desk asked us to put together a suggested tasting menu for those of you joining us at home, inspired by the politics in play. Call it a taste-bud tutorial to what's at stake.

About NPR's Election Night Party

On Tuesday, give the cable box a break and gather friends to watch NPR's live midterm elections coverage, from around the tube. NPR News' on-air and online election special will be available through a web-based app built for television and optimized for Google Chromecast iPads and laptops. Here's how you can join NPR's party and invite your friends. The party begins at 7 p.m. Eastern.

Ten Senate seats* are considered to be up for grabs this November – Republicans need to win six of them to take control of that chamber. If you're hankering for poultry, you could give jerk chicken a try in homage to the Senate race in Iowa. OK, so this dish has nothing to do with corn country, but it does speak to one reason why Democratic candidate Bruce Braley has seen his lead in this race erode: Critics allege he's not a very nice guy. Fueling that image is a flap over a dispute with a neighbor — apparently, a neighbor's chickens wandered onto his property and Braley was forced to deny that he threatened litigation over the episode.

For those of you in a pork sort of place, look to North Carolina, where Democratic incumbent Sen. Kay Hagen is hoping her chances of re-election amid anti-Obama sentiment aren't as smoked as the state's famous barbecue.

What about drinks, you ask? Kentucky bourbon, of course. While the GOP is hoping to win the Senate, their leader in that chamber, Mitch McConnell, finds himself fighting to keep his own seat back in Kentucky. He and his Democratic challenger, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, were projected to spend enough on the race to buy just about every man, woman and child in that state a bottle of Maker's Mark.

And for dessert, you could turn to Alaska, where, in part thanks to President Obama's unpopularity in this red state, Democratic Sen. Mark Begich is in hot water. Why not capture some of that heat and serve up baked Alaska?

Or, there's always New Hampshire, where Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen is facing off against Republican Scott Brown. Name ring a bell? That's because Brown used to be a senator in Massachusetts – he shook the Democratic establishment by winning the seat left empty by Sen. Edward Kennedy's death in 2010, then lost it in 2013. Brown's family ties to New Hampshire go back generations, but critics see him as nothing but a carpetbagger. In his honor, we humbly suggest you top off the night with some Boston cream pie.

*The 10 battleground states in the Senate are: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina. We didn't hit all these races with our menu – so suggest your own politically themed dishes in the comments section below.

election night

The run up to midterm elections has sparked many heated legal and ideological arguments over voting procedures and requirements. To understand the debate, I went to Charlotte, North Carolina for a live community conversation around these voting laws. The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed a North Carolina law to go into effect that eliminates same-day voter registration and reduces the number of early voting days.

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Civil rights activist Charles Jones began the discussion when he shared a few of his personal experiences. Travis Dove/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Travis Dove/NPR

Civil rights activist Charles Jones began the discussion when he shared a few of his personal experiences.

Travis Dove/NPR

We heard from 77-year-old Charles Jones. He was heavily involved in voter registration efforts during the civil rights movement in 1960s. Jones shared a poignant story about a meeting he helped organize in Terrell County, Georgia to help African-Americans get comfortable with voting. The sheriff - also the local Ku Klux Klan leader - interrupted the meeting, but Jones emphasized the importance of standing up for yourself and making your voice heard.

"We have the option to help define our own lives," Jones said. "Involve yourself in learning from a factual base. Don't let anybody tell you what you ought to be doing, ought to be thinking."

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Hans von Spakovsky, manager for Election Reform Initiative and senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and also a former member of the Federal Election Commission. Travis Dove/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Travis Dove/NPR

Hans von Spakovsky, manager for Election Reform Initiative and senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and also a former member of the Federal Election Commission.

Travis Dove/NPR

Hans von Spakovsky is the manager of the Election Reform Initiative at the Heritage Foundation, and the co-author of Who's Counting?: How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk. He says the biggest reasons people fail to vote are not restrictive voter laws, but apathy and dissatisfaction with the candidates.

"The Census Bureau does a survey of non-voters and the biggest reason people don't vote has nothing to do with procedural issues...how you register, it's because they are not interested in politics, and they don't think their vote will make a difference, and they don't think that the candidates will really do anything for them," he said.

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Janai Nelson, associate director-counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. Travis Dove/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Travis Dove/NPR

Janai Nelson, associate director-counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

Travis Dove/NPR

Janai Nelson is the Deputy Director and Associate Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She talked about how minority communities and low-income Americans are most affected by more restrictive voting laws.

"I fear that we're at critical stage in our current history where we risk turning back the hands on the clock and going back to a time where we are - for a variety of reasons - restricting the people who can vote in this country," she said.

We wanted the conversation to go beyond the McGlohon Theater in Charlotte. We held our social media chat - in collaboration with member station WFAE and La Noticia, North Carolina's oldest Spanish speaking newspaper - in English and Spanish. You can follow that conversation here:

[View the story "NPR Presents: Michel Martin, Voting Rights or Wrongs?" on Storify]