WASHINGTON, November 1 (RIA Novosti) – A pilot of the SpaceShipTwo aircraft managed to escape from the spaceship and parachute to the group during the vehicle crash in California desert on Friday, that left one more person dead, the spokesperson for the California Kern County Sheriff's Office Ray Pruitt told RIA Novosti.
“The pilot was able to eject from the aircraft and parachute to the ground, and he sustained injuries,” Ray Pruitt said.
“There is one confirmed fatality,” he added.
Pruitt stated that the pilot has been transported to California’s Antelope Valley Hospital for treatment.
Earlier on Friday, the US spaceship manufacturer Virgin Galactic announced that an experimental space flight vehicle SpaceShipTwo crashed during the powered test flight in the Mojave Desert due to a serious anomaly.
Pruitt confirmed that “at about 9:18am local time an experimental aircraft SpaceShipTwo launched from Mojave airport for a test flight”.
“At about 10 a.m. this morning, the sheriff’s office received a call that the aircraft had gone down in a desert area, about 20 miles northeast of the city of Mohave,” the spokesperson said.
The crash site is spread over about a several mile area, according to Pruitt.
“There are several debris scenes, we’ve located debris in at least five different locations,” he explained, adding that deputies are currently at the scene.
“At this point we are maintaining the scene and the MCSD (Mohave County Sheriff's Department) and FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) are en route to investigate the accident,” he said.
FAA said in the release that two crew members were on board SpaceShipTwo at the time of the incident and said that it is investigating the crash.
Virgin Galactic stated in the press release that it is now working closely with relevant authorities in order to determine the cause of the accident.
The crash of the SpaceShipTwo is the second major accident with space vehicles, happening in the United States this week.
On Tuesday, the Antares spacecraft, that was carrying cargo to the ISS, crashed only six seconds after launching from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
