CALIFORNIA: The Virgin Galatic’s spacecraft, loaded with an experimental new rocket fuel, has exploded 45,000 feet above the California’s Mojave Desert, killing one of its pilots.
Wreckage of the first-ever passenger flight into space rained from the sky as one pilot managed to eject from the cockpit using a parachute, while the other was reportedly left strapped to his seat as he plummeted to earth and died.
The pilot who ejected also suffered serious injuries and is now in hospital. Virgin has not yet said who the pilots were – though only four men were cleared by the FAA to pilot the craft.
Today’s flight was the first time SpaceShipTwo had taken to the skies using a new, solid plastic fuel instead of the rubber-based propellant which powered earlier flights. Virgin founder Richard Branson is flying urgently to the scene of the accident.
Onlookers saw at least one parachute from the craft, which has two crew members. One bystander, space blogger Doug Messier, raced to the wreckage and reportedly saw the dead pilot strapped into his seat, missing body parts.
Virgin Galactic issued a statement saying: ‘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 SpaceShipTwo. WK2 [which carries SpaceShipTwo into the air] landed safely. Our first concern is the status of the pilots, which is unknown at this time. We will work closely with relevant authorities to determine the cause of this accident and provide updates ASAP.’
