Branson vows to continue space project despite Virgin Galactic spaceship crash

World Today

Sir Richard BransonSir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, with a scale model of the Spaceship Two attached to the White Knight carrier aircraft in this January 23, 2008, file photo, at the America Museum of Natural History in New York. Virgin Galactic’s first commercial spacecraft crashed on October 31, 2014, during a test flight over California, scattering debris over the desert and leaving at least one pilot dead, officials said. Television images showed the wreckage of SpaceShipTwo, a test vehicle that flies to the edge of space, amid brush in the desert east of Mojave, a few hours’ drive northeast of Los Angeles. AFP PHOTO/Stan HONDA/FILES

The pilot who died from the shocking crash of Galactic’s SpaceShip-Two in California’s mojave desert has now been identified. Crash inspectors are on site and the investigation is ongoing. Meanwhile, Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson vowed to continue his space projects.

“In testing the boundaries of human capabilities and technologies, we are standing on the shoulders of giants, said Branson. “Yesterday, we fell short. We will now comprehensively assess the results of the crash and are determined to learn from this and move forward together as a company.”

For more insight into the crash of Galactic’s SpaceShip-Two, CCTV America spoke to Ryan Faith. He is the Defense and National Security editor at VICE News.