
This is just awful. What a huge blow to the private spaceflight industry.
Virgin Galactic was testing their SpaceShipTwo, a new type of plane designed to take passengers 62 miles into the sky! That’s the edge of outer space!
Sadly, a “serious anomaly” caused the craft to fall from the sky, and crash into the Mojave Desert.
Virgin Galactic released a statement:
“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. Our first concern is the status of the pilots, which is unknown at this time. 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.”
It’s now known that, as of this writing, one pilot is dead and another injured person has been airlifted to the hospital.
What’s so awful is how excited they were on Twitter as the test flight started out smoothly, with WhiteKnightTwo flying the spaceship into the air.
WhiteKnightTwo flies SpaceShipTwo up, then releases the ship so it can continue its journey even higher into the sky.
You can watch it all play out on Virgin Galactic’s Twitter:
#SpaceShipTwo has been released by WhiteKnightTwo, and is now flying freely for the 35th time.
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) October 31, 2014
Ignition! #SpaceShipTwo is flying under rocket power again. Stay tuned for updates.
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) October 31, 2014
#SpaceShipTwo has experienced an in-flight anomaly. Additional info and statement forthcoming.
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) October 31, 2014
UPDATE:Virgin Galactic’s partner Scaled Composites conducted a powered test flight of #SpaceShipTwo earlier today. (1 of 4)
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) October 31, 2014
During the test, the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of SpaceShipTwo. WK2 landed safely. (2 of 4)
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) October 31, 2014
Our first concern is the status of the pilots, which is unknown at this time. (3 of 4)
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) October 31, 2014
We will work closely with relevant authorities to determine the cause of this accident and provide updates ASAP. (4 of 4)
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) October 31, 2014
This is all just so terrible. We really hope at least the other pilot can pull through.
Check out the video (below) to see the wreckage strewn across the desert.
The story is still developing…



