One pilot died while another one was injured after the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo crashed during its test flight in Mojave Desert, California on Friday, reports said.
Associated Press citing photographer Ken Brown reported that the spaceship exploded after it was released from a "high altitude." The area where the spaceship crashed was only 20 miles away from where it originated -- the Mojave Air and Space Port.
Donny Youngblood, Kern County Sheriff, told AP that the other pilot survived by "parachuting out." He was immediately brought by a helicopter to a hospital, he added. CNN identified the hospital where the pilot was brought to as Antelope Valley Hospital which is located in Lancaster, California.
The identities of the two pilots have not yet been established but CNN said that the two were working for the Scaled Composites.
The cause of the crash is still unknown and unclear as of press time.
But CNN said that Mojave Air and Space Port chief executive Stuart Witt denied in a press conference that there was "something abnormal" in the flight. He was quoted as saying that he did not see any "huge explosion."
Meanwhile, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides assured the public that they will support the probe on the accident. "Space is hard, and today was a tough day...The future rests in many ways on hard, hard days like this," CNN quoted him as saying.
Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites said in a statement that they are "deeply saddened" by the accident but what they can do right now is to send their support to the families of the casualties and to "cooperate fully" to the investigation.
Charles Bolden, NASA administrator, also sent his condolences to the families of the pilots. "While not a NASA mission, the pain of this tragedy will be felt by all the men and women who have devoted their lives to exploration," Bolden was quoted as saying in the CNN report.
Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic's founder, posted on Twitter more than 7 hours ago that he will immediately go to the crash site to join the team.
AP said that it was the 55th flight for the 60-feet long SpaceShipTwo but it noted that it was actually the "fourth flight to include a brief rocket firing." The spaceship has a capacity of up to six passengers, it added.
During Friday's flight, another kind of fuel called HTPB was used, AP revealed. But Kevin Mickey, president of Scaled Composites, Virgin Galactic's partner, claimed that the new fuel had been "extensively tested."
The accident, Agence France Presse said, is considered as a "huge blow" to Branson who envisioned of offering the "first passenger space flights." The crash is the second accident that involved a US spacecraft this week, AFP said. Last Tuesday, an Orbital Science rocket blew up after being launched. The rocket was supposed to send supplies to the International Space Station, it added.
According to CNN, some famous actors have already reserved tickets for the space flights. This includes Leonardo DiCaprio and Ashton Kutcher. Also included in the list are singer Justin Bieber and physicist Stephen Hawking. A space flight ticket costs over $250,000. To date, over 700 tickets have already been sold.