World News
Virgin spacecraft crashes in test flight─── 09:51 Sat, 01 Nov 2014
California - Sir Richard Branson has vowed to continue his space tourism venture despite the fatal crash of one of his craft in the California desert.
One pilot died and the other was badly injured when Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo craft exploded on Friday.
The founder of the Virgin Group said he was "shocked and saddened" but insisted he would "persevere" with space travel.
The craft was flying a manned test when it experienced what the company described as "a serious anomaly".
Officials with the US National Transportation Safety Board will begin their investigation on Saturday morning, which will probably take several days.
In a blog post, Mr Branson said everyone involved in the project was "deeply saddened".
"All our thoughts are with the families of everyone affected by this tragic event," he wrote.
He said that he was flying to California, describing it as "one of the most difficult trips I have ever had to make".
"Space is hard - but worth it. We will persevere and move forward together," he added.
"The future rests in many ways on hard days like this, but we believe we owe it to the team to understand this and to move forward. And that is what we'll do."
Wreckage from the crash was scattered across the Mojave desert, north-east of Los Angeles. Police secured the site amid fears that some of the debris could be explosive.
Both pilots were employed by Scaled Composites, the company that designed the craft. One was pronounced dead at the scene while the other was transported to a local hospital in an unknown condition.
The spacecraft had been carried into the air by an aircraft known as WhiteKnightTwo before being released at an altitude of 45,000 feet (13,700m) for a test of its rocket engine. It crashed shortly afterwards.
In a statement, Virgin Galactic said the "vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of SpaceShipTwo".
The WhiteKnightTwo aircraft landed safely, the statement added.
BBC News
The founder of the Virgin Group said he was "shocked and saddened" but insisted he would "persevere" with space travel.
The craft was flying a manned test when it experienced what the company described as "a serious anomaly".
Officials with the US National Transportation Safety Board will begin their investigation on Saturday morning, which will probably take several days.
In a blog post, Mr Branson said everyone involved in the project was "deeply saddened".
"All our thoughts are with the families of everyone affected by this tragic event," he wrote.
He said that he was flying to California, describing it as "one of the most difficult trips I have ever had to make".
"Space is hard - but worth it. We will persevere and move forward together," he added.
"The future rests in many ways on hard days like this, but we believe we owe it to the team to understand this and to move forward. And that is what we'll do."
Wreckage from the crash was scattered across the Mojave desert, north-east of Los Angeles. Police secured the site amid fears that some of the debris could be explosive.
Both pilots were employed by Scaled Composites, the company that designed the craft. One was pronounced dead at the scene while the other was transported to a local hospital in an unknown condition.
The spacecraft had been carried into the air by an aircraft known as WhiteKnightTwo before being released at an altitude of 45,000 feet (13,700m) for a test of its rocket engine. It crashed shortly afterwards.
In a statement, Virgin Galactic said the "vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of SpaceShipTwo".
The WhiteKnightTwo aircraft landed safely, the statement added.
BBC News
