they are taking on some ambitious things. the engine was exactly the opposite. it is a scale composite of virgin galactic that had the problems we are talking about here today. it was an entirely new design with brand-new materials, composite materials that were never used before until this device itself. the orbital sciences racket was literally using a 1970's era engine left over from the soviet union, never successfully used in the soviet union, that was mothballed and discovered by orbital sciences. they tried to fix it up and use it. an engine filled with hydrocarbons, that was waiting for decades to be used. very different, rather than

cutting edge new science. it was literally something that was 40 years old. >> i am going to bring in pimm fox to talk about the differences in these. obviously, the orbital rocket is almost the case of sitting on a itb and hoping you can set off the right way, whereas this virgin galactic engine and the engineering of the craft is very different. >> you are talking about a variety of different propellants. talk about a livid propellant, it is about the mixture you have to get exactly right, and it gives the operator of the craft more control in terms of the throttle, being able to define the mixture in order to control the flight. engine,olid fuel rocket you have got different issues. typically, as you described, it is almost like trying to light a fire work or a roman candle, something that would explode and create that kind of propulsion. this was a hybrid in which a

portion of the fuel was solid and the oxidizer was liquid. it is worth mentioning that the air -- this particular aircraft, wo, was designed to carry six passengers and two pilots. as you mentioned, one of the pilots was already noted as being killed. another pilot being injured. this is not the first time this project has seen fatalities. you go back to the summer of 2007, while they were doing tests in the mojave desert, a oxidef nitric acid -- exploded and killed three employees. this project goes back to 2009. it is designed, obviously, to carry passengers seeking a .ourist weightless experience

celebrities such as tom hanks have already signed up for this, $250,000 a seat. and whether this is a design flaw or something that happened because of the actual rocket wo, thefor spacecraft t reports are that it was dropped from the white knight fixed wing vehicle. aboutlly, it would be 50,000 feet and the rocket would take the spacecraft through to a higher altitude, where people would be able to experience that weightlessness. we are waiting for a press conference from the kern county california,fice in north of los angeles, to find out if they have any details. the combination of the composite structure of the aircraft, plus the feathering technique that would be used to land the actual spacecraft two, that was also an innovation. combine that with the hybrid rocket engine. >> i think the press conference

has started. let's get straight to that and listen to what they have to say. approximately 10:12, we became aware of an in-flight anomaly and implemented our preplanned response plan. my team was dispatched to the north. the chief will discuss that and the sheriff will discuss his involvement. mishaponfirmation of a just a few moments later, approximately 25 miles north of the airport, and we were given a latitude/longitude of the potential site. at times like these, those of us in the aerospace family recognize that we engage in our craft freely. i have been in it for 45 years. we recognize that the contribution we make to a nation, the traveling public, and the general contribution to an amazing industry that

provides transportation to the entire world. but when we have a mishap from the test community, we find the test community is very small. and we are family, and it hurts. our hearts, thoughts, prayers, absolutely with the families of the victims. we do know that one of the was met by emergency responders, treated on the scene, and transported to animal that -- antelope valley hospital. he also know that we had one fatality. to also acknowledge the artisans, the craftsman, the engineers, the emergency responders, the technicians, the janitors. everybody in the industry that gives it their all every single day. these parking lots are filled seven days a week.

no one is forcing these people to do this. speculate at this time on the cause. i know george is going to address that. again, chief and donnie, i want to say thanks to the emergency responders. you guys have been with us and will be with us every step of the way, for years. tier team, personally, we say thanks. at this time, i turn it over to george. sheriff donny youngblood, kern county sheriff. >> thanks to the involvement of the sheriffs office, we will be the lead. i got the call this morning there had been an anomaly and mishap. i flew out. flew around the crash site. it is a large area.

the aircraft is in several different pieces. we found one person who obviously was deceased immediately. transported to the hospital. i do not have the condition. when he left, it appeared to be major injuries. but we don't know really what that means yet. our thoughts and prayers are with the family. we hope the survivor will be just fine. >> mike cody, deputy fire chief, kern county fire department. our involvement goes about 10 years, working with mojave air and space port. we attended many briefings to get ready for a potential mishap. that is not why we wanted to stand here today. been here and assisting

mojave air and space port emergency responders. if there is a plan to take an facility, our role is rescue. we had a helicopter on standby which responded. i believe the sheriff's department had a vehicle on the ground, and the civilian flight test center had a vehicle on the ground prior to our arrival, and ministering to the survivor. we arrived on scene, took over basic care, and transferred care to emergency air 14 air helicopter for transport antelope valley hospital. >> next up, kevin mickey, mickey like mickey mouse. >> good afternoon, everybody.

echo, thanks for the support we get from the mojave air and space port from the local authorities. i would like to say our job continues. immediately after locating the crash site, we set out with our partners to secure the crash site. that will continue to be the case overnight. we expect the ntsb will arrive approximately 7:30 tomorrow morning. we will spend a couple of hours putting together a game plan for moving forward as we continue the investigation, which we expect will take several days. >> [indiscernible] >> if you wouldn't mind, i would like to get the statements, and then we will take some of your questions, if you don't mind, with all due respect. 80's and gentlemen, george whiteside, the chief executive of virgin galactic.

>> our primary thoughts at this moment are with the crew and family. we are doing everything we can for them now. i would like to recognize the work of the first responders, who we work with in the antelope valley, for their efforts on behalf of the team. we are also thinking of the team members that we have at the companies that have been working on this program. richard branson is on his way, flying to mojave, and we expect he will be here by tomorrow morning. space is hard. and today was a tough day.

we are going to be supporting the investigation as we go through what happened today, and we are going to get through it. ways,ture rests, in many on hard days like this. to thebelieve we owe it folks who were flying these vehicles, as well as the folks who have been working so hard on them, to understand this and to move forward, which is what we will do. thank you. mindnts, if you wouldn't joining me. supervisors, i am sorry. i see you in the room. nice to see you. now, i would like to take some

questions from the press corps. , i willould not mind give you some time. stand up, state your name, so we know who we are talking to and your affiliation. i understand on this particular test flight, this ship was using reformulated fuel and may be engine had been tweaked. engine had been tweaked. >> kevin, you care to take that question? we were flying a rocket motor to date that had been thoroughly tested on the ground and had been through a qualification series. of course, we expected no anomalies with the motor. >> to clarify, was this the first time you had used this new motor?

tests on the ground, you said. >> a small nuance to the rocket motor design is the fuel of the motor. this motor configuration had flown a few times in the past. this was our fourth powered flight. a differentsing mixture on the fuel, correct? a new fuel formulation that had been proven and tested on the ground many times. >> can we take a step back and can you give us your best narrative of what happened during the flight, at after separation? >> you want me to take it? thatr, i am going to take one, because i was standing at the base of the tower. we always convene. we always are near each other. this was a peer test. it was not a public event. i will tell you, from my eyes

and my ears, i detected nothing that appeared abnormal. briefed that the plume would look different this time than it had in the past. and it did. but i could not detect anything. in fact, there was a pause of about 90 seconds when your colleagues have been calling all morning, wanting to know when i knew. whenl tell you that i knew other things were not happening. it was not because something did happen. i was notuse of what hearing and not seeing. explosion,s a huge it did not occur. i did not see it. i already read that in the press. >> [indiscernible] separation? >> there are a few seconds before ignition occurs. >> [indiscernible] cockpit?

>> i heard a -- pardon us. i do not know the answer to that. >> could you explain just briefly how the process works? the rocket pulls up. the ship separates. >> this vehicle, like the in 2001, one we flew is a mated pair. a mothership carries the space ship two roughly 45,000 feet. the spaceship and separates from the larger vehicle, at which point it is a glider in freefall. the rocket motor is lit, and you are on your way. you tell us about the condition of the surviving pilot, or any information about the pilot? >> the news i have currently is that he was transported and is doing as well as could be expected.

>> what other details can you give us about these pilots? their ages? can you give us more background? includes aomposites haveof test pilots that gone through significant training for these types of events. i will confirm that both of these were scaled composites test pilots. >> have the families been notified? >> yes. talk a little bit about the resolved by this community-- community. by this folks are watching involved with testing and all that goes on here. [indiscernible] >> let me retreat a little bit. have been in this business a long time. that has chosen

to invest at this phase of our career, and the new generation age,is joining us is your extremely motivated, highly motivated, challenging, inquisitive people. and even though we have a preponderance of this new industry resident in mojave, it is sprinkled around the globe. it is a borderless global industry interested in commercialization and much greater access to space. my message to them is, stay the course. this business is worthy business. this is not easy. if it were easy, it would not be interesting to me or any of my colleagues standing with us. new people involved with this, get involved. be inquisitive. challenge. do not be afraid to ask the tough questions. we are doing this for you and for your generation. it is worthy, good business. it is a cause far greater than

any one of us singularly. i equate it to the magellan mission. we have your thoughts today on a very personal loss? >> you are watching the mojave air and space port press conference on the crash of virgin galactic two, a spacecraft which crashed earlier today. you are looking at a picture of the craft, but in the box you see the director of the mojave air and space port. he had with him not only law enforcement officials, but private space exploration company executives. the main message, i think, it is was that regardless of this tragedy, and it is a tragedy, and their thoughts of course are with the families of the victims, the two victims, one fatal and one currently being treated for injuries -- the godless of that, they want to continue to move forward. again, weer and over

are doing this of our own volition. we choose to do this. no one is forcing us to do this. we want to continue in this work. we heard this from all the company executives, saying this is going to be difficult. there are going to be problems. there are going to be stumbling blocks. they want to continue moving forward with their mission to push into space and to make space more accessible to everyone. i want to bring in cory johnson from bloomberg west. leroy, let me ask you, because you -- in fact, it sounds like we have lost leroy. i will bring in cory. your thoughts on this conference? it does look like they were making their case to push ahead in the face of this accident. discussion that this was

-- it was aompound new fuel compound being used. the commander of the spaceport was saying they expected to see a different kind of plume out of this. that suggests to me this was very much an experimental flight, and furthermore that it is hard to imagine they are still trying out a few compound they have not tested on the ground, that this would be ready to fly as early as march, which is what richard branson has told people. that suggests there is scrambling to get this piece of equipment functional for its planned functionality, coming in the early spring. --they told richard branson told us richard branson is on his way. he will be there tomorrow. we will no doubt get more. he said he did not see any explosion.

see a mishap. it was the lack of things he was hearing that clued him into the fact that something was horribly wrong. you have done something with virgin galactic. you have been on some sort of aircraft and tested weightlessness. that i am assuming it was a very different kind of aircraft. >> it was a 737. it was quite different. , and gthe very craft flight, that virgin galactic passengers are training for their own experience with. 737 took me over the gulf of mexico. we did parabolic loops to simulate weightlessness in a padded aircraft. i think it speaks to this business they are trying to build here, the awful tragedy of

this pilot dying and the other one being so hurt. we do not know what happened or when things went wrong. they are clearly going to have to uncover all of that. up to a quarter million dollars hoping to be passengers in a spaceflight. one wonders if they will ask for money back and what this does to the business of richard branson 's. >> i am going to return our viewers to our regularly scheduled program right now, studio 1.0 with emily chang. and stay tuned for "taking stock with pimm fox" at 5:30. x the number of people who receive streaming video is on its way to 5 billion people. i think in the future, it is either, you want to watch something, you go straight to , or new bundles. if you were going to buy netflix

stock, i would never recommend netflixt, but i think could have a billion subscribers. i do not think there is any reason. and then amazon will be very big, i think. sort of the new aggregators, the new bundlers. >> what is the future of apple under tim cook, and will apple be a big player? >> it looks incredible. it looks extremely promising. a huge hit. it is going to be extremely successful. the company gaining strategic strength. apple are gaining strength. i think they are going to do extraordinarily well. the interesting thing about apple tv -- apple keeps refusing and everybody keeps predicting apple tv on your wall.

i think the big reason goes back to the power of the smartphone. the smartphone upgrade cycle is like 10 years. for tv, it is seven years, five years. tv effectively is going to become a dumper referable -- peripheral for the smartphone. the tv could be the dumb recipient of the content. i think that is a margin business that other people can pursue. >> what is the future of elon musk? >> i think it is obvious. is going to fly to mars. so he has some work to do between here and there. --re is really three guys there is three sort of founders who i think are really revolutionizing -- we are a lucky industry.

all of these people are incredibly well-known. ,e have these three people including elon and larry page -- you read the stuff they write, and their ambitions and aspirations are a step up from the rest of us. at audacity -- just look elon's career. the audacity of starting an electric car company -- the one thing you do in 2005, the one company you know you should never start in the united states is a car company. the other company you would never start would be a rocket ship company. and he is just getting started. who knows? earth, you only have a few years. el canpeter teal -- thi discover the cure for mortality, he will. you said your starter is not the

next whatsapp. nextody said, what is the big thing, and you said, something new. what is something new? >> we are trying our best to find it. the point peter makes that i agree with is, there was only one microsoft. there will never be another microsoft. there will never be another google. there was just the one. if they are building the next betsapp, there will not another, but there will be new things. they will be viewed as completely crazy. nobody is going to think they are the next big thing. it is going to be something bizarre. to be like, going there is no way. that could never possibly work. >> the mark andreessen, everybody.

>> i am pimm fox, and this is what i am taking stock of. a setback for commercial space ventures. today, a spacecraft for virgin tourism business crashed during a test flight in california cost mohave desert that killed one of the pilots. some good news for investors. following the bank of japan's move to raise the target for monetary stimulus, stock prices jumped. the s&p 500 closed up 1%.