FIRST PICTURE: Married California pilot with 15 years experience killed in Virgin Galactic test flight as Richard Branson defends £300million project and vows to 'finish what he started'
The pilot who died in a tragic accident aboard Virgin's SpaceShipTwo has been identified. Michael Alsbury, a pilot with Scaled Composites, was killed on Friday when SpaceShipTwo exploded just minutes after it detached from its mother ship, WhiteKnightTwo. A family member of Alsbury has confirmed the news to MailOnline. The experimental SpaceShipTwo came apart in mid-air just after its engines started firing - the first time the plane had used a new plastic-based propellant.
Seconds before it had detached from the WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane, which lifts the spacecraft to cruising height before it blasts off to heights of around 60 miles above the earth's surface. But it had hardly gone any distance at all when an 'anomaly' ripped the hull apart and sent the wreckage plunging to the Mojave Desert below. Addressing the public, Virgin CEO Richard Branson (inset) said, 'Space is hard - but worth it. We will persevere and move forward together.'
Seconds before it had detached from the WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane, which lifts the spacecraft to cruising height before it blasts off to heights of around 60 miles above the earth's surface. But it had hardly gone any distance at all when an 'anomaly' ripped the hull apart and sent the wreckage plunging to the Mojave Desert below. Addressing the public, Virgin CEO Richard Branson (inset) said, 'Space is hard - but worth it. We will persevere and move forward together.'
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