The United States is OUT OF THE SPACE BUSINESS

[American Patriot]

California Hwy Patrol confirms one dead, one injured.

[American Patriot]

[American Patriot]

Virgin Galactic test flight crashes

Rob Beschizza at 11:33 am Fri, Oct 31, 2014







Problems experienced during a test flight of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo may have resulted in the death of one of its two crewmembers, according to early and unconfirmed reports surfacing on Twitter.


Virgin Galactic announced on its feed that an "anomaly" occurred six minutes after it was released from its mothership, WhiteKnightTwo, over the Mojave Desert.
Wreckage and at least one parachute were observed on the ground, via ">a live feed posted by ABC News 23, which sent a helicopter to the scene. Two parachutes were seen by onlookers, according to reports, and one of the crewmembers is said to have also been seen alive on the ground.


Stephen Clark, of Spaceflightnow.com, writes that it was the 55th flight of SpaceShipTwo and its 35th free flight: "It was the fourth time SpaceShipTwo had fired up its rocket motor in flight, and the first powered mission since Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites, the craft’s builder, switched from a rubber-based propellant to a plastic-based fuel mix."


Officials confirmed to reporters that two people were onboard the vessel and that officials were looking for the pilots.


SpaceShipTwo's design would let it carry six passengers and two pilots on trips to the edge of space, with hundreds of reservations already taken for the $250,000 ride. Virgin Galactic boss Richard Branson had hoped to see the earliest flights next year. The Mojave Air and Spaceport is 60 miles south of Bakersfield, California.