Sadly, SpaceShipTwo exploded during a test flight on Friday, October 31, 2014. There was one fatality and one serious injury. Spaceflight is hard. Spaceflightnow.com reports the following:

Virgin Galactic, part of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, was aiming to complete qualification of the rocket-powered plane in time to begin space tourist flights to the edge of space next year.

“We’ve always known that the road to space is extremely difficult — and that every new transportation system has to deal with bad days early in their history,” Branson said in a statement. “Space is hard — but worth it. We will persevere and move forward together.”

Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

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