A Virgin Galactic spacecraft known as SpaceShipTwo crashed during a test flight in California on Friday, killing the co-pilot, and dealing a potential setback to British billionaire Richard Branson’s plans to market space tourism.
After the rocket-propelled plane separated from its mother ship, the pilot ignited the rocket, triggering what witnesses described as an explosion – and the craft dropped from the sky over the Mojave Desert.
The pilot was able to eject in time and was later air-lifted to a local hospital, according to the sheriff’s department in Kern County. The co-pilot "immediately" perished in the crash just after 10 a.m., said Sheriff Donnie Youngblood.
Branson’s fledgling spaceline, which brands itself as having the world's first commercial rocket-plane, attributed the tragedy to an "in-flight anomaly," according to a company tweet.
Mojave Air & Space Port CEO Stuart Will said that they had used "a new fuel formulation" in the spacecraft before the crash which "had been tested on the ground."
"I detected nothing that appeared abnormal," he said of the moments before the explosion at a later press conference. "I was told that the plume would look different this time than it did in the past and it did. But I couldn't detect anything."
The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to arrive at the crash scene on Saturday.
Emergency responders were seen carrying one person, believed to be the pilot, on a stretcher to an awaiting helicopter.
Youngblood described the pilot's injuries as "major ... but we don't know if that's really what that means yet."
Neither the pilot nor the co-pilot was immediately identified.
The space vessel, which was making its first rocket powered flight since January, had propelled approximately 45,000 feet into the sky by its carrier, Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo mothership, before released as a glider to power up its rocket seconds later, explained Kevin Mickey, president of Scaled Composites.
SpaceShipTwo, which is described as twice as large as its predecessor SpaceShipOne, is designed to carry up to six passengers and two pilots.
Since 2005 Virgin Galactic has accepted more than $80 million in deposits from approximately 700 individuals, the company boasts on its website.
"Thoughts with all @virgingalactic & Scaled," Branson tweeted just after 4 p.m. "Thanks for all your messages of support. I'm flying to Mojave immediately to be with the team."
Some of those who have already snatched up tickets for a 2 1/2-hour voyage -- priced at $200,000 -- includemultiple star-studded celebrities.
Those aspiring space cadets are said to include Leonardo DiCaprio, Katy Perry, Russell Brand, Ashton Kutcher, Stephen Hawking, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet, Lance Bass, and Justin Bieber.
Klyukin Vasily, a Russian real estate mogul who paid $1.5 million to soar alongside DiCaprio on a future space voyage, tweeted his dismay shortly after.
"Crusade crashed my space ship," he lamented in Russian with a sad face.
With News Wire Services
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