Reports are flooding in that at least one person is dead, and another is reported as injured after the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo crashed in the California desert earlier today. The Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo was taking part in a manned test flight, when it was hit with “a serious anomaly”.
The craft is currently in a test phase before beginning tourist flights to the edge of space. It does this by launching attached to a jet, where it is then launched into a sub-orbit above the earth. This gives passengers a journey that takes them to a zero gravity environment and is pegged as the future of space tourism by Virgin Galactic.
In a statement, Virgin Galactic said the “vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of SpaceShipTwo”
The co-pilot was killed in the crash, while the pilot managed to eject, but was seriously injured in the process. Photographer Ken Brown reports that he saw the craft explode shortly after it was released from the plane that carried it to a higher altitude. The aircraft, known as White Knight 2 landed safely shortly afterwards.
Around 200 people have already paid £125,000 for a place on SpaceShipTwo flights, it is unclear what effect this will have on Virgin Galactic’s plans for tourist flights. Hopefully Virgin Galactic will have a statement about what happened.
Our thoughts go out to the families of those involved in the crash.
Thank you BBC for providing us with this information.
Image courtesy of BBC.
