A test flight over the Mojave desert on Friday resulted in an explosion aboard a Virgin Galactic spaceship, which killed one pilot, gravely injured another, and left debris strewn over a large region. As part of Sir Richard Branson’s aspirations for commercial space travel, SpaceShipTwo was conducting a test flight when a “serious anomaly” happened, according to the corporation. Following the crash on Saturday, Branson was en route to the Mojave base. Witnesses stated that shortly after the spacecraft separated from the launch vehicle that lifts it to 45,000 feet, it split apart. One of the pilots was discovered dead on the ground by rescuers. The other, who seemed to have used an emergency parachute, was transported by air ambulance to a medical facility with critical
Despite rigorous ground testing, Virgin Galactic claimed that the fuel mix used to power SpaceShipTwo had never been used in flight. The incident occurred shortly before 11 a.m. local time, but the company was unable to determine whether the alteration to the fuel mix provided an explanation.
Three days after an unmanned rocket on a cargo mission to the International Space Station burst seconds after takeoff from a NASA launch pad in Virginia, the tragedy provided yet another sharp reminder of the risks associated with space exploration. Virgin Galactic’s president and CEO, George Whitesides, stated during a press conference that “space is hard, and today was a tough day.” “As we work to determine what transpired today, we will be assisting the investigation and we will overcome it,” stated Whitesides.
Despite the “devastating loss,” Branson declared that he would continue with the space travel project and that Virgin Galactic would make every effort to assist the pilots’ families. Although the travel to the spaceport in the Mojave Desert was “one of the most difficult trips I have ever had to make,” according to Branson, he was eager to be among the “dedicated and hard-working” crew there. He pledged to cooperate fully with the authorities.
“We’ve always known that the road to space is extremely difficult – and that every new transportation system has to deal with bad days early in their history,” Branson said on his website. In agreement with Whitesides, the CEO of Galactic, Branson said, “Space is hard, but worth it.” Together, we’ll persevere and advance. Virgin Galactic conducts test flights, generally with two pilots on board, out of a site in the Mojave desert. The people involved in the accident on Friday were not immediately identified. The crash occurred at 10:51 a.m. local time, and the California Highway Patrol stated that one person had died and another had sustained “major injuries.”
The co-pilot of the aircraft died, according to a Kern County Sheriff’s spokeswoman, and the pilot ejected. The second-stage launch vehicle for Virgin Galactic’s space flight program is called SpaceShipTwo. It is intended to separate from the WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) spacecraft, travel into orbit propelled by rockets, and then return to Earth.
Ken Brown, a photographer who witnessed the accident, said that the craft exploded after it was launched from the carrier vehicle. “They separated, the rocket seemed to start fine as it’s done in the past three tests, then there was a big puff. We could see that major pieces were coming down.”
Brown said that he and blogger Doug Messier, who was with him, found a piece of debris across the road with the remains of one of the pilots. “I’m still shaking.”
Messier, a blogger who runs the website Parabolic Arc, which reports on space news, wrote on Twitter that he witnessed the crash from Jawbone Station, which is on a ridge overlooking the desert where the craft crashed. “We saw the twin contrails of WhiteKnightTwo overhead. They do that prior to a drop,” he tweeted. “SpaceShipTwo dropped. From what I could tell, motor fired and then stopped then fired again. I think that’s what happened.”
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