One Dies In Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Crash
By Space Coast Daily // October 31, 2014
'vehicle suffered a serious anomaly'
Richard Branson’s rocket plane, SpaceShipTwo, crashed this afternoon in the Mojave desert, killing one person on board and seriously injuring another.
The rocket plane was on a test flight from its base in the Mojave desert when an “anomaly” occurred, according to Virgin Galactic.
Virgin Galactic released this statement about the crash:
“Virgin Galactic’s partner Scaled Composites conducted a powered test flight of SpaceShipTwo earlier today. During the test, the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of the vehicle. The WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft landed safely. Our first concern is the status of the pilots, which is unknown at this time. We will work closely with relevant authorities to determine the cause of this accident and provide updates as soon as we are able to do so.”
According to the Associated Press, the California Highway Patrol reported one fatality and “one major injury.”
SpaceShipTwo is the second-stage launch vehicle for Virgin Galactic’s space flight program. It is designed to disconnect from the propeller-engined WhiteKnight craft and ascend to space under rocket power, then return to earth on its own.
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