#SpaceShipTwo - Virgin Galactic Rocket Crashes In The US Mojave Desert

The #SpaceShipTwo crash has rather put a damper on excitement about commercial space travel being safe and available within a few years. Virgin Galactic, a British spaceflight company with aims of bringing suborbital tourism flights to the public, says it has suffered an "anomaly" on one of it's space ships today during a test flight over the Mojave Desert in California.

This is the second incident in less than a week where a vehicle in the commercial space industry has crashed or exploded. On Tuesday, an unmanned Antares rocket exploded just after takeoff off the coast of Virginia. According to CNN, a spokesman for Orbital Sciences Corporation later revealed that controllers deliberately destroyed the craft after it became apparent there was a problem.

This was the initial tweet by Virgin Galactic on the incident which they had been live-tweeting before the explosion.

#SpaceShipTwo has experienced an in-flight anomaly. Additional info and statement forthcoming.
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) October 31, 2014

A recent AP tweet says California Highway Patrol reports one pilot is dead and the other is injured.

BREAKING: California Highway Patrol reports 1 fatality, 1 major injury after SpaceShipTwo accident.
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 31, 2014

Virgin later updated their reports thus;

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

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

A news conference for more details on the exploded Virgin Galactic aircraft is scheduled for 2 p.m. PST.

Images via CNN