(Photo Courtesy AP/BBC News/Twitter)
Virgin Galactic's suborbital commercial spacecraft SpaceShipTwo has crashed during a test flight in the Mojave Desert about 95 miles north of Los Angeles, according to NBC affiliate KGET. The California Highway Patrol has confirmed that one of the two pilots aboard the vehicle is dead; and the other is in critical condition.
See also: Everything You Need to Know About the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Disaster.
Virgin Galactic tweeted that SpaceShipTwo suffered an "in-flight anomaly." A photographer covering the event says he saw a mid-flight explosion following the ship's departure from its carrier vessel, WhiteKnightTwo, and debris are reportedly scattered along the desert.
SpaceShipTwo was built by Scaled Composites, as was WhiteKnightTwo, which carries the craft into the atmosphere. From there it launches to suborbital altitudes 62 miles above the Earth's surface. (The WhiteKnightTwo in today's test flight landed safely.) Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic is trying to use the spacecraft to fly space tourists who want to experience the curvature of the planet at such great heights.
A press conference is scheduled for 5 p.m. Eastern (2 p.m. Pacific). For more background on the race to suborbital space, check out our recent feature on Scaled Composites, Virgin Galactic, and the other players.
We'll keep you updated as the story develops.
This Is the Five-Year History of SpaceShipTwo in Pictures
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Update: Here's the statement from the FAA:
"Just after 10 a.m. PDT today, ground controllers at the Mojave Spaceport lost contact with SpaceShipTwo, an experimental space flight vehicle. The incident occurred over the Mojave Desert shortly after the space flight vehicle separated from WhiteKnightTwo, the vehicle that carried it aloft. Two crew members were on board SpaceShipTwo at the time of the incident. WhiteKnightTwo remained airborne after the incident. The FAA is investigating. Please contact Scaled Composites about the condition of the crew members."
Virgin Galactic chief Richard Branson just tweeted:
Update: As PM mentioned in a feature earlier this month, this marked the first test for SpaceShipTwo's new plastic-based rocket fuel. The rocket had been using a synthetic-rubber solid fuel that was giving the team instability problems.
Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides just issued this statement:
He also confirmed that Richard Branson is en route to Mojave. Later, when asked his message to the world, he said:
Update: Here's the statement from NASA administrator Charles Bolden:
And here's a photo of the craft just after the it broke up.
