The first prototype of the SpaceShipTwo sub orbital spacecraft exploded and crashed during a powered test flight over Mojave desert, Cali...
The under development plane was designed and built by Mojave-based Scaled Composites for Sir Richard Brandson owned Virgin Galactics space tourism company.
The died pilot has been identified as Mike Alsbury, who was an accomplished test pilot and had worked for Scaled Composites for 13 years. He has flown 1600 hours of flight time in research aircraft built by Scaled Composites. The injured pilot Pete Siebold is Scaled’s director of flight operations.
SpaceShipTwo is the prototype for the world's first commercial manned spaceship, destined to take private astronauts into space and paving the way for space transportation.
The WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft landed safely after releasing the SS2 at over 50,000 feet.
The four Pratt & Whitney turbofan engine powered WhiteKnightTwo provides the high-altitude launch platform for SpaceShipTwo to achieve sub-orbital flight. It then glides back to Earth and performs a conventional runway landing.
The crash is a big blow to Virgin's space tourism ambitions, which was slated to begin commercial space flight by next year. Sir Richard Branson, told Reuters the cost of the spaceship was $500 million. The company has already won more than 700 reservations, including from famous hollywood celebrities, at $250,000 a seat.
The crash comes days after the Orbital Corp's Antares launch vehicle on a resupply mission to International Space Station, exploded and crashed after 15 seconds from lift off on Oct 28. The back to back crash has dealt a considerable blow to fledging U.S. based private commercial space industry.
The prototype named VSS Enterprise is the only flying one and was rolled out on 7 December 2009. The spacecraft successfully performed its first powered test flight on 29 April 2013, after nearly three years of unpowered testing.
The entire project operates under the wing of The Spaceship Company, a venture that's jointly owned by Branson and Abu Dhabi's aabar Investments PJS.
