Virgin Galactic Space Tourism Ship Crashes

Photo courtesy of Virgin Galactic on Twitter

Virgin Galactic, the fledgling space tourism venture of billionaire aviator Sir Richard Branson, suffered a setback today when its SpaceShip Two rocket exploded and crashed in the Mojave Desert in California.

A spokesman for the California Highway Patrol told NBC News there was one fatality and one major injury. That would be consistent with the two-pilot system Virgin Galactic uses during test flights.

London's Daily Mirror newspaper has photos of what it says is debris from the crash.

At approximately 1:30 p.m. EDT, Virgin Galactic tweeted the following:

UPDATE:Virgin Galactic's partner Scaled Composites conducted a powered test flight of #SpaceShipTwo earlier today. (1 of 4)

- Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) October 31, 2014

During the test, the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of SpaceShipTwo. WK2 landed safely. (2 of 4)

- Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) October 31, 2014

WK2 would be WhiteKnightTwo, the carrier airplane that takes SpaceShipTwo into orbit before releasing it under its own power.

Virgin Galactic later tweeted:

Our first concern is the status of the pilots, which is unknown at this time. (3 of 4)

- Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) October 31, 2014

We will work closely with relevant authorities to determine the cause of this accident and provide updates ASAP. (4 of 4)

- Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) October 31, 2014

NBC News, in addition to reporting the one death and one injury, said SpaceShipTwo was experimenting with a new fuel source.

SpaceShipTwo has room for six passengers. Nobody other than the pilots was believed to be on-board.

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