Analysis: Jon Amos, BBC science correspondent Desc: On October 31, 2014, the VSS Enterprise, a SpaceShipTwo experimental spaceflight test vehicle operated by Virgin Galactic, suffered a catastrophic in-flight breakup during a test flight and crashed in the Mojave Desert near Cantil, California. The crash ended Virgin Galactic’s effort to begin commercial crewed suborbital spaceflights in the first quarter of 2015. VSS Enterprise being carried by VMS Eve.

VSS Enterprise crash Catastrophe. 1 year ago There wasn't really any choice. When you're firing up a rocket engine and accelerating to the speed of sound in … VSS Unity VP-03 was a success for the organization, following the 2014 VSS Enterprise crash. See our full coverage on the accident and investigation. Five years ago today, SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise broke up over the Mojave Desert during a flight test. Mark P. "Forger" Stucky is an American test pilot and commercial astronaut. Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo space plane crashed during a test flight on Oct. 31, 2014. Today a test flight of Virgin Galactic’s VSS Enterprise spaceplane ended in tragedy with a crash in the Mojave desert, with the loss of one of two . It was the first crewed spaceflight from U.S. soil since the Space Shuttle mission STS-135 in 2011.

Virgin Galactic had aimed to send tourists into space early next year, and has already taken more than 700 flight bookings at $250,000 (£156,000) each. Co-pilot Mike Alsbury died and pilot Pete Siebold was seriously injured. One pilot died while another was injured. VSS Enterprise (N339SS) is the first example of Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo. SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise crash Main article: VSS Enterprise crash On October 31, 2014, Siebold was one of the two pilots flying the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo , VSS Enterprise , along with Michael Alsbury, on a test flight, which suffered an anomaly, resulting in the death of Michael Alsbury and loss of Enterprise . It is the testing example, in conjunction with Scaled Composites WhiteKnightTwo VMS Eve; and is owned by Virgin Galactic.