Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Crashes

Yahoo Travel
Updated
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Virgin Galactic tweeted this photo of SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo earlier today (Photo: Virgin Galactic)

UPDATE: 2:57 P.M. ET: AP: One fatality, one major injury. Witness reports SpaceShipTwo exploded in flight after ignition of rocket, crashed in desert.

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo tourism rocket has crashed during a test flight in the Mojave Desert in California.

In a statement, Virgin Galactic says “the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly, resulting in the loss of the vehicle.”

The fate of the pilots is unknown.

The Associated Press reports that local rescue crews are headed to the crash site.

Virgin Galactic, founded by Sir Richard Branson, is aiming to take tourists into space. The SpaceShipTwo is designed to be carried into space by a jet. After taking passengers on a suborbital ride, the vehicle would then glide back down to Earth.

Tickets for the space flight, which is still in its testing stages, are $250,000. Virgin Galactic had hoped to begin flights next year.

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