This article is from the source 'independent' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/virgin-galactic-spaceship-suffers-problem-during-test-flight-9832077.html

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 4 Version 5
Virgin Galactic space rocket crash: One pilot dead and another seriously injured after SpaceShipTwo suffers 'flight anomaly' Virgin Galactic space rocket crash: Richard Branson’s dream of space tourism suffers setback after Mojave crash kills test pilot
(35 minutes later)
Richard Branson’s space tourism dreams suffered a shattering blow tonight when one of his pilots was killed in a test flight and another was severely injured. Sir Richard Branson’s bid to take paying customers into space has suffered a major blow, after a test flight of a Virgin Galactic spacecraft crashed in southern California, with early reports suggesting one pilot had been killed and another seriously injured.
Virgin Galactic’s rocket-powered test craft SpaceShipTwo slammed into the Mojave Desert in California after a fatal fault caused a catastrophic failure. SpaceShipTwo, the flagship of the British billionaire’s commercial spaceflight venture, took off on a test flight yesterday morning from the Virgin Galactic Base, at the Mojave Air and Space Port, a little under 100 miles north-east of Los Angeles.
At least one witness reported the spacecraft exploded in the air soon after the rocket engine was ignited, though Branson’s company said only that there had been an “in-flight anomaly”. The craft is designed to be carried aloft by a partner plane, called WhiteKnightTwo, to an altitude of 50,000ft, at which point it peels away and fires its rockets to fly on into sub-orbit alone. Witnesses on the ground said shortly after detaching from WhiteKnightTwo, a little past 10am, SpaceShipTwo suffered a mid-air explosion, which Virgin described as an “in-flight anomaly”.
Local Sheriff Donny Youngblood said the rocket was in several pieces on the ground, adding that there was "one person who was obviously deceased immediately". Two test pilots equipped with parachutes were thought to be on board the spacecraft, and local authorities said one had died, while the other managed to eject from the plane and was transported to hospital with “moderate to major” injuries.
Sir Richard Branson said his thoughts are with all those at Virgin Galactic and partner business Scaled after the SpaceShipTwo crash, adding: “Thanks for all your messages of support. I'm flying to Mojave immediately to be with the team.” The incident puts a large dent in the ambitions of Sir Richard and Virgin Galactic, and could prove to be a public-relations disaster for the nascent space-tourism industry as a whole. Virgin Galactic is one of the leading firms in the commercial space race. Yet the launch date for Virgin’s first commercial flight has been repeatedly put back, with some experts sceptical about its chances of launching at all.
SpaceShipTwo was on a test flight conducted by Virgin Galactic’s partner company Scaled Composits when the spacecraft crashed. It was its first powered flight since January, the Mojave Air and Space Port said. In pictures: Virgin Galactic space rocket 
In a statement issued shortly before the pilots were found by a search, Virgin Galactic said: “During the test, the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of the vehicle. More than 800 prospective space tourists have already parted with around $200,000 (£125,000) for the privilege of being on an early Virgin Galactic flight; the two-hour trips will include five minutes of weightlessness. The passenger list reportedly includes Justin Bieber, Angelina Jolie and Professor Stephen Hawking. Until the accident, Sir Richard and his children were expected to be aboard SpaceShipTwo’s first commercial flight sometime in 2015. Sir Richard tweeted yesterday, “Thoughts with all @virgingalactic & Scaled. I’m flying to Mojave immediately to be with the team”.
“We will work closely with the relevant authorities to determine the cause of the accident and provide updates as soon as we are able to do so.” Earlier this year, Virgin Galactic unveiled a partnership with Nasa to undertake a commercial research flight on the spacecraft, which completed its first powered test flight in April 2013. As part of the long-running test programme, the craft’s flights had been edging ever closer to the fringes of space. Before yesterday’s crash, the firm suggested SpaceShipTwo might make its first trip to an outer-space altitude – 62 miles – before the end of this year.
Ken Brown, a photographer who witnessed the fatal flight, said the spacecraft was released from the cargo plane that carries it to high altitude, ignited its rocket motor then exploded.  Yesterday’s flight, conducted by Virgin Galactic’s aerospace partner Scaled Composites, was SpaceShipTwo’s 55th flight, and the 35th time it had detached from its carrier plane to fly alone. However, it was only the fourth time the craft had fired its rockets – the first such test since January. In the meantime, engineers had altered the make-up of its rocket fuel, from a rubber-based to a plastic-based compound, in a bid to improve the performance.
At a press conference in California, Virgin Galactic chief executive George Whitesides said: "Space is hard and today was a tough day. The last time SpaceShipTwo completed a successful test flight was on 7 October, when it glided unpowered back to the Mojave Space Port from 50,000ft. According to NBC News, yesterday’s flight faced a delay of at least three hours as the Virgin ground team made sure the weather was suitable for a test flight. The twin craft were finally cleared for take-off at 9.19am. WhiteKnightTwo then took 45 minutes to carry SpaceShipTwo to 50,000ft before the two planes split and SpaceShipTwo fired its rockets, apparently with fatal results.
"We are going to be supporting the investigation as we figure out what happened today. We are going to get through it. “Virgin Galactic’s partner Scaled Composites conducted a test flight of SpaceShipTwo earlier today,” said a statement on the Virgin Galactic website. “During the test, the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of the vehicle. Our first concern is the status of the pilots, which is unknown at this time.”
"The future rests in many ways on hard days like this but we believe we owe it to the folks who were flying these vehicles as well as the folks who have been working so hard on them to understand this and to move forward." “Space is hard, and today was a tough day,” said George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic, at a press conference. “We believe we owe to the folks who were flying these vehicles to understand this and to move forward, which is what we’ll do.” WhiteKnightTwo later landed safely.
He said it was the first time the rocket had been flown using a new fuel formulation.
"It had been proven and tested on the ground many times," he added.
The injured pilot was "as well as could be expected" he said.
Branson’s company has been offering tickets for space flights since 2005 and several hundred people have already paid deposits. The aim of the project is to create vehicles which can carry tourists into space without the need  for travellers to have special expertise or exhaustive training.
In 2012 SpaceCraftTwo became the first commercial vehicle since Concorde to break the speed of sound when it flew at Mach 1.22.
It was designed to be carried by a cargo aircraft up to 50,000 feet, in the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere, before being released to engage its rocket engine and fly the remaining distance into Space.
On its website Virgin Galactic said that safety was a priority and that Scaled Composits had a record “second to none”.
It stated that one of the advantages of the design was safety: “If there were any problems during the boost phase, the rocket motor could simply be shut down and the spaceship would return as a glider to the runway.”
Virgin Galactic said its approach to space tourism was “predicated on safety” and stated: “Safety is Virgin Galactic's North Star. It is at the heart of the design of our new vehicles and will be ingrained in the culture of our space line operation.”