VIRGIN GALACTIC ROCKET PLANE CRASHES IN CALIFORNIA DESERT

SpaceShip Two, the rocket plane at the centre of a $500m project that aims to begin commercial suborbital flights for tourists, crashed into the California desert last Friday during a test flight. One pilot was killed, while another, with moderate or major injuries, parachuted from the craft and was admitted to hospital. There was no immediate information on insurance carried by either Virgin Galactica or Scaled Composites, the unit of the Northrop Grumman aerospace group that designed and was testing the vehicle. The Wall Street Journal reported late Sunday that preliminary data indicate that the plane may have suffered a violent structural failure rather than a fuel or engine explosion. The crash came three days after an unmanned supply rocket crashed shortly after lift off in Virginia on a mission to the International Space Station.