A Virgin Galactic spacecraft crashed after an explosion during a test flight over the Mojave desert on Friday, killing one of the pilots, seriously injuring another and leaving debris scattered over a wide area. The plane, SpaceShipTwo, was undertaking a test flight as part of Sir Richard Branson’s plans for commercial space travel when a “serious anomaly” occurred, the company said. Branson was on his way to the Mojave base on Saturday in the wake of the crash.
Witnesses reported the spacecraft broke apart soon after it was detached from the launch plane that carries it to 45,000ft. Rescuers found one of the pilots dead on the ground. The other, who appeared to have deployed an emergency parachute, was airlifted to a hospital with serious injuries.
Virgin Galactic said that SpaceShipTwo was powered by a fuel mix that had not previously been used in flight, although it had been tested extensively on the ground. The company was unable to say whether the change to the fuel mix offered an explanation for the accident, which happened just before 11am local time.
The crash served as another stark reminder the dangers of space exploration, three days after an unmanned rocket on supply mission to the international space station exploded seconds after takeoff from a Nasa launch facility in Virginia.
“Space is hard, and today was a tough day,” said George Whitesides, CEO and president of Virgin Galactic, at a news conference. “We are going to be supporting the investigation as we figure out what happened today and we are going to get through it,” Whitesides said.
Branson said he would persevere with the space tourism venture despite the “devastating loss” and Virgin Galactic would do everything possible to support the pilots’ families. Branson said the journey to the Mojave Desert spaceport was “one of the most difficult trips I have ever had to make” and but he wanted to be with the “dedicated and hard-working” team there. He promised full co-operation with authorities.
Writing on his website Branson said: “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.”
Echoing the words of Galactic CEO Whitesides, Branson declared: “Space is hard – but worth it. We will persevere and move forward together.”
Two pilots are usually on board for Virgin Galactic’s test flights, launched from a base in the Mojave desert. The identities of those involved in Friday’s accident were not immediately disclosed.
The California Highway Patrol confirmed that one person was dead and another had suffered “major injuries” in the accident, which happened at 10.51am local time.
A spokesman for Kern County sheriff said the co-pilot of the plane had been killed, while the pilot ejected.
SpaceShipTwo is the second-stage launch vehicle for Virgin Galactic’s space flight program. It is designed to disconnect from the WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) craft and ascend to space under rocket power, then returns 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.”
