Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo had a major accident during today’s test flight. The SpaceShipTwo exploded soon after its rocket engine fired up. The test flight was delayed in the morning because of the weather. Then the WhiteKnightTwo carrier jet lifted SpaceShipTwo to the launch altitude of 50,000 feet. The carrier released the jet and the craft exploded soon after that.
There were two test pilots onboard. Both tried to eject. There is a report confirming that one of the pilots is dead. The other pilot has serious injuries and was transported to a hospital.
This is very unfortunate as technology and space exploration fans everywhere really want this to succeed.
SpaceShipTwo recently switched to a different plastic-based rocket fuel. This fuel type has shown better performance and could take the space ship even higher to an elevation of approximately 62 miles (100 km) above earth’s surface. This flight height would give every occupant astronaut status, as NASA and the military deep 50 miles of altitude as the edge of space flight.
You can see the Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo in this TFLcar auto show video of the Land Rover Vision Concept. Land Rover partnered with Virgin Galactic on development process sharing and to promote technology advancements.
