these are live pictures from mojave, california. as we learned from virgin galactic which is sir richard branson's company in california. huge excitement over what could be this flight. 62 miles out to suborbital orbit just to the edge if they can pay for that ticket to get onboard this spacecraft, they could experience the awe that is space. weightlessness. you can see what that really is like and so now we are experiencing a tragedy which in the wake of the rocket that exploded six seconds after takeoff a couple days ago is certainly tough to swallow for anyone who loves space. i have a former washington post reporter and author who has followed the development of this particular program. this virgin galactic program. when you look at these pictures here, pieces of presumably this space ship 2 here in the desert and we now have the news that at least one of the pilots has died. it's tough news to swallow. >> actually, yes, brooke. i'm quite heartbroken. i knew both of these pilots very, very well. they were both engaged with the p

the incident occurred over the mojave desert. shortly after the spaceship vehicle separated from white knight 2. the vehicle that carried it aloft. two crew members were aboard spaceship 2 at the time of the incident. white knight 2 remained airborne after the incident. the faa is investigating." that's what we have from the faa. we're seen people on the ground amid scattered debris. i have a nasa astronaut on the phone with me here to talk about the tragedy that's unfolded here in mojave, california. michael, as you look at this and this loss of life, it's so

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 tak

>> the mojave desert it's about 100 miles to the northeast of l.a.dwards air force base. there's a lot of conjunction with the united states military. this is certainly a big blow. >> rick, who is familiar with that area of the country. thanks so much, rick. let's go back to the breaking news with shepherd smith. >> we've been saying unconfirmed, it is in fact, confirmed. fox news has gotten word from virgin galactic. the spaceship is lost, and they do not yet know the stat where yous of the pilots. there's good news in that the space one parachute from presumably from this jet was seen or spaceship, if you will was seen floating down into the mojave desert. the helicopters and the rescue crews apparently have not yet located that one. it is normal during test flights that two pilots are on board. did they do it different today? i guess they could have. their own site says that's how it works. some new tweets have come in, which i want to get from julia over here. virgin began explaining what happened pretty quickly. >> the second tweet is during the

the facilities in mojave are test facilities. virgin galactic led by richard branson hoped to put paying passengers on board these spaceships and cycle them through. give them a chance to experience this is at about $250,000 a ride. and then they would refresh the engines, refresh the entire vehicle and it would be ready for a lift-off or a launch within a week or so. i think there are significant questions today about whether that's now going to be significantly derailed or at least delayed because of this tragic accident. we need to hasten to add, we don't know who was on board thistic vehicle. there are the virgin ga latdtic pilots who worked for virgin galactic and then the people that worked for the contractor, if you will, who helps build these vehicles. they built the vehicles and then turn them over to virgin galactic. we don't know who was on board. obviously, our thoughts and prayers go out to the families involved. they have the best and the brightest that we experienced back in january. they hired former military pers

these are live pictures from mojave, california.s we learned from virgin galactic which is sir richard branson's company in california. huge excitement over wha

liz: we have more breaking news out of the mojave desert.ojave air and spaceport will have a news conference at 5:00 p.m. eastern, 2:00 p.m. pacific to update everybody on the virgin galactic spaceship crash that happened, we believe, in the 2:00 p.m. eastern hour. it was midair when witnesses reported that as its rocket began to fire up, it exploded. there is one confirmed fatality, and one serious injury. these are test pilots, we understand, and one pilot has been rushed to the hospital and has survived for the moment. it happened in the mojave desert, west of los angeles, east of las vegas. you can see how remote area it. is it is where a lot of the test flights take place, virgin galactic trying to get suborbital spaceship off the ground so tourists can go up in it. some 500 people have signed up to take a shot at this experience. at the moment, all stops are in as we try and figure out what happened here. let's talk about what's going on with the markets. we know we have a massive rally. put up some metrics what's going on. dow jones i

obviously the mojave desert just north of los angeles. stephanie, the reaction out there where virgin galactic is part of local industry and obviously people who work on this project, on virgin galactic spaceshiptwo live. tell us what you know. >> reporter: jake, it's the idea of hope. you're building hope. you're building a dream that is going on out there in the desert, in the mojave desert. the high desert, it's very vast, it's very open as you can see from these images on the screen right now. this is where you can do all of this kind of work without the interference of other flying objects generally, of buildings, of a lot of people on the ground. but still the major focus right now is the loss of life here. and from what i can gather, the space community is very small, very tight-knit, so there's devastation around the fact that one of theirs is lost and this other person is so seriously injured and that the debris field is as wide as it is. there are three areas they're working from, you can see the crash site from these shots righ

our department goes ten years working with mojave air and space port. we have done briefings to get ready for a mishap. it's not why we want to stand here today. we've been here and assisting responders. if there are plans to take an event on the facility, then we take it off the facility. then our role is rescue. i believe the sheriff's department. administering care to the survivor. and transferred the care to mercy air 14. air helicopter for transport. and so we continue to support mojave air support in any way possible. thank you. >> next up kevin mickey like mickey mouse. president is the president of scales composites. kevin? >> afternoon, everybody. to echo what stu said, thanks to all the support we get from the mojave air and space port. i want to say our job continues immediately after locating the crash site we set out to secure the crash site. we expect the ntsb will arrive approximately 7:30 tomorrow morning. we will spend a couple of hours putting together as we continue the investigation which will take several days. >> we heard that, i g

." >>> a private space plane explodes into the mojave desert. see you at 11:00. >>> on the broadcast tonight, catastrophe in the sky for the second time this week a private spacecraft goes down in flames. this time sadly people were onboard. >>> captured, the accused cop-killer and sniper who kept communities on edge for seven weeks is behind bars tonight. how police finally got their man. >>> halloween storm, a freezing night for millions of americans. early snow already creating a travel mess as hundreds of flights are grounded. >>> and fill'er up, a gallon of gas less than a gallon of milk. how long will it last? "nightly news" begins now. >>> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. >>> good evening. i'm lester holt sitting in for brian. the dream of civilians soaring into space as paying passengers could be on hold tonight after the deadly crash of a virgin galactic space plane over the california desert today. it's the second accident involving a commercial spacecraft in this country thi

we're awaiting more information at a mojave air and space news conference which is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. eastern. joining me now is msnbc correspondent tom costello. tom, i know this is a fluid situation. you've been giving us great updates but do we have anything new to update the status of the second pilot? >> we are seeing one report that he is alive and suffered some injuries. th that, i must say, is good news. many people were concerned that a parachute drop or deployment from a high altitude at least 45,000 feet that that could be a very, very risky proposition. so the fact that one of them is alive is certainly good news. unfortunately, we've now learned that one of them has not made it. eyewitnesses of nbc news have spoken to on the scene there is debris scattered across a very wide area. when you've got a debris area that is two miles across, that tells you it was very high altitude. as you see, it does look from some of these images we've seen thus far that there seems to be burn marks on the wreckage. so that would be consistent with the description of some event happenin

the virgin galactic spaceship, spaceship two has crashed in the mojave desert.e person roberted killed, one person in the hospital, we're waiting for further information from the hospital about the survivor, and waiting for the potential of video from virgin galactic of this happening, and more specifics about how it happened, when, and why. and when we get to those we'll continue with breaking news in just a moment. we have a very special pair of guests today, and i don't want you to miss them. the accused cop killer, eric frein, simply got down on his knees and surrendered when u.s. marshals finally found him, according to prosecutors. the marshals captured the fugitive after a massive manhunt that stretched for 48 days in the wilderness around the poconos in central pennsylvania. last month police say eric frein ambushed two pennsylvania state troopers, shot them both, killing one, and seriously wounding the other. police say frein had it out for law enforcement and say he booby trapped the woods with pipe bombs like this one and left behind a trail of clues,

that now is very unlikely to happen. >> pelley: ben tracy in the mojave desert for us tonight. ben, thank you. it turns out a self-destruct signal was sent to that rocket that malfunctioned tuesday. the rocket builder, orbital sciences, says the command was radioed as the anterez rocket was falling back into the launchpad in virginia on tuesday. we don't know what caused the unmanned rocket to fail. it was bound for the intirnld space station with 2.5 tons of cargo. today, in wichita, kansas, crews were notably to recover the remains of the dead from yesterday's plane crash. four people, including the pilot, were killed when a small plane slammed into a training facility at the wichita airport. the billion will have to be reinforced before bodies can be brought out. the pilot had reported engine trouble. people in northeastern pennsylvania tonight are breathing easier after the arrest late yesterday of eric frein, the man who allegedly ambushed two pennsylvania state troopers at their barracks seven weeks ago, was taken back to that barracks, restrained by the handcuffs of the

thanks to all the support we get from the mojave air and spaceport. i'd 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'll spend a couple of hours putting together a game plan for moving forward as we continue the investigation which we expect would take several days. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> we'd like to get the statements and then we'll take some of your questions, if you don't mind, with all due respect. >> ladies and gentlemen, george whiteside is the chief executive of virgin galactic. george? >> hello. our primary thoughts at this moment are with the crew and family. and we're doing everything we can for them now. i'd 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're also thinking of the team members that we have at the companies that have been working on this

is dead, another was badly injured in today's crash which occurred during a test flight over the mojave desert just after the craft separated from its mother aircraft. these images appear to be an explosion and pieces of debris tumbling to earth. nbc's tom costello has been covering the rapid growth of commercial space flight. he joins us now from our washington newsroom with more. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi, lester. it appears one of the pilots was able to parachute out and was injured, the other did not get out alive. they both worked for scaled composites, which built the spaceship. tonight the ntsb is launching a team to investigate what went wrong. in mojave, california this afternoon disaster, the burnt and broken remains of virgin galactic spaceship two, supposed to take paying customers one day into low earth orbit, fell to the ground. >> just a big puff. a big white puff. immediately at that point i knew that something had went really horribly wrong. >> possibly two patients. one doa. >> we found one person who had obviously was deceased immediately. the other was trans

a commercial spaceship has crashed in the mojave desert killing one person. reporting an in-flight anomaly when it's spaceship two during a space flight earlier. two pilots were on board. one person has died, and otherhas suffered a major injury in the crash. this is the second commercial spaceship to crash this week. the first was an unman headed to the international space station with supplies. lisa, what do you know about today's crash? >> reporter: it was during a test flight of spaceship two, mojave desert in southern california. the ship was brought up to 50,000 feet by its mother ship. that is called white night, and then it's released. at that point spaceship two fired up its rocket anythin engine, and it was supposed to go up in the atmosphere. just at that firing it appeared that something went terribly wrong, and there was an inplosion, debris startin started falling out of the sky at 50,000 feet. two pilots on board this aircraft. both do have parachutes, and one parachute was sighted. as we know there are reports that one of those test pilots app

>> it is and my heart goes out of course to the families of everyone involved, from mojave space port to virgin to all. what i feel is conversations going on are very naive by most individuals. there were expectations, this is a test flight and the fact of the matter is, i landed at l.a.x. this second and we're able to travel and take aish plane travel for -- airplane travel for granned because over the years there's many who gave their lives to open up that frontier. to say spaceflight is so dangerous, is ridiculous, the fact is, all this is danger are, all this is dangerous. driving a car is dangerous. 50,000 people die per year. these are people who gave their lives for something they believe in and care about so deeply, we asked humidity -- humanity on the verge of opening the greatest frontier ever. anybody who says we should stop and think about this is naive in saying if that had happened with the first automotive earp airple accident, we would still be on horses. we have to commit ourselves to this. i'm a virgin galactic ticket holder and i believe in the company and i believe

spaceshiptwo has been under development at mojave space and airport.e you more information on that as soon as we get it. let's switch gears. now that the world series is over, baseball's business season is underway. as of thursday, 121 layers became free agents. does free agency have any effect on the balance of power in baseball? elbow injury forced him to miss the entire 2014 season, but he's on the mend and is anxious to get back on the mound, as are all of us who are mets fans. it's a pleasure to meet you. welcome to "bottom line." some teams have money to burn, but it does not guarantee a championship. the kansas city payroll at the start of 2014 was under $100 million. does team chemistry trump big money? >> i think so. you look at that team, and it was guys who came up in the organization together from the beginning and build relationships, build a bond that would carry them to the next level. force and lot of aggression, and they made it happen. >> they certainly channeled it. players like yourself are paid for your talent and you put fans in t

wreckage was scattered across the mojave desert in california. virgin owner, richard branson, tot tweeted he is en route mojave to be with the team. >> 13 people, including children, were injured in a in montgomeryrash county. the accident involved a minivan. it happened on norwood road near of excaliburion lane and sandy spring. the entire intersection was all directions but itour reopened. >> how does the weather look, bob? volumeust have plenty of coming up from the dulles toll road, heading through bethesda outerlver spring, on the loop to tysons and on 66, headed and againntreville through gainesville. but no incidents au along the w. 395, an incident, possibly a crash, just before the 14th street bridge on the side. now, traffic on 395 and i-95, just volume delays in separate stretches. and i-95 out to washington parkway, on the maryland side, careful out there with all the kids trick-or-treating tonight. have a great weekend. >> all right. thank you, bob. here's one way to make your bearable. cold hards cash. some of that rained down in mo

back down to a landing strip in the mojave desert. plane drops, spaceship 2 drops from the plane. then a rocket fires. right there. the rocket is about to fire. this is file video. this is where we believe the incident may have occurred. for some reason, there was an anomaly. something went terribly wrong and the vehicle exploded or came apart at altitude. there are reports of parachutes down in the desert. you do have to wonder whether at this extreme altitude where this vehicle may have come apart at, whether anybody would have been able to survive a parachute drop from that altitude. you've got very limited oxygen up there. you've got high speed that the vehicle's already traveling at. a lot of concern there as you might expect. this is richard branson's program, as you know. richard branson brought in -- or, rather, assumed the entire project after we saw them win the "x" prize. they won the "x" prize with this vehicle. the whole notion they could bring people into suborbit, richard branson brought it, saw a commercial opportunity

a commercial spaceship exploded today in the mojave desert killing at least one person. there was an in flight anomaly. the california highway patrol says one person died and another suffered major injuries. the national transportation safety board is expected to arrive to the site tomorrow to begin an investigation. here are more details. >>reporter: tony, what we know is that the debris field is quite large. the plane fell in a number of different pieces. as you said, the ntsb will be heading to the site at first light tomorrow and will expected to be there to try to figure out what went so wrong. spaceship two was transported this morning attached to a mother ship called white knight two. the spaceship is brought up to about 50,000 feet and then released. and at that point, it fires up its rocket engine to go higher up into space. well, at that point, two minutes after it was released from that mother ship, that is when those on the ground noticed there was some sort of anomaly. eyewitnesses say they saw an explosion, and they saw pieces of this spaceship start fallin

i'm flying to mojave immediately to be with the team. richard branson that runs the company will be on sight shortly. i should say -- the presser is starting right now. we'll go right to it. >> george white sides. with me in the room is kevin mickey. i don't see kevin right this second. >> be right out. >> okay, be right out. president of scale composite. just briefly, our day began about 2:00 this morning with, the evolution of a spaceship ii, white knight ii, powered flight four was the name of this particular test. takeoff occurred at 9:20 this morning. my team and i were present at entire evolution. release of spaceship ii occurred at approximately 10:10 a.m. at 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. i had confirmation of a mishap just a few moments later. approximately 25 miles north of the airport. we were given a latitude, longitude of a potential site. at

. >>> virgin galactic spaceship ii crashes in the mojave desert.have update on the breaking story coming up. we would like to know what you think about the last 48 hours of that raging market rally. is it a treat, or a trick? are investors setting up for profit-taking or is there more room to run? send us a message on facebook or tweet us @fbnatb. we would love to hear some of your answers. we'll mention some of them coming up. ♪ it's more than the driver. it's more than the car. for lotus f1 team, the competitive edge is the cloud. powered by microsoft dynamics, azure, and office 365, the team can gain real time insights and instantly share information around the globe. when every millisecond counts, staying competitive begins with the cloud. this is the microsoft cloud. and cialis for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment is right. cialis is also the only daily ed tablet approved to treat symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy eno

. >>> also, the test flight of the virgin galactic space craft turns deadly in the mojave desert. roarsready ♪ ready, ready, ready ♪ come and get it ♪ get it, get it ♪ when you're ready, come and get it ♪ ♪ na na na na ♪ na na na na na na na ♪ ♪ when you're ready, come and get it ♪ ♪ na na na na... female announcer: it's a great big world and it can all be yours. here and only here. ♪ come and get it. >>> a massive explosion rocked a neighborhood in walnut creek this morning sending two victims to the hospital, leaving dozens of others out of their homes. we will show you a map where this fourplex explosion took place. 1564 sunnyvale avenue off interstate 680. cornell bernard there now live with the story. cornell? >> reporter: larry, this neighborhood still in chaos hours after that explosion rocked many people out of bed this morning. police and fire units still on scene here on sunnyvale avenue. they are calling this a criminal investigation now. they say what happened here was no accident. a fire and several explosions caught on this smartphone camera at the exact moment this apartm

. >>> a tragedy this afternoon in the mojave desert.t least one person has been killed in the explosion of a virgin atlantic spaceship. adam housely is following the story from los angeles. hello, adam. >> yeah, i was there when sir richard branson revealed spaceship 2. it was taking its first test flight using a new fuel. there was no word if this had nick to do with the crash, but it was the reason for today's test flight. branson is -- >> i knew, when other things weren't happening, it was because if something did happen, it was what i was not hearing and not seeing, and so it was, you know, if there was a huge explosion, it didn't occur, i didn't see it. >> originally, virgin had planned private space flights for 2010, those have been pushed to this year and just since september, branson announced that commercial flights would start in february or march of 2015. the requirements includes high -- there's also been reports that some of those who booked flights were starting to kla complain of the delays. there's two teams on their way

killed, another person hurt when a virgin galactic tourism rocket exploded in southern california's mojave this is new video of the wreckage of the spaceship ii hr(t&háhp &hc it was taking off on a test flight when it crashed. richard branson says he's flying immediately to the mojave desert to be with that crew. >>> 1800 volunteers covered 80 miles of coastline from wilmington to fenwick island. they collected more than three tons of crash. they found unusual items, a bowling ball, a car fender and christmas lights. >>> rutgers university is making it easier for students to get their degree by offering classes at more locations in our area. by the end of this year, rutgers courses will be offered at atlantic cape community campuses and cape may courthouse. next summer students will be able to take classes in point pleasant, ocean county. they're part of a summer at the shore initiative. its goal is to provide an education to students who may work or live at the shore during the summer months. >>> you heard the expression about turning into a pumpkin at midnight? >> what about turning into

this happened over the mojave desert. the national transportation safety board is sending a team of investigators to the area to determine the cause of the crash. >> let's go out to the weather the trick-or-treat forecast. >> parents across the region, of course, want to know what to their as they take children out. so let's go right to our chief doug hill.st, dou >> 52 outside right now. a fewtake you up the road blocks, give you a live look at the rooftop camera. a few breaks in the overcast. that's about all we'll see for the evening. it's 50 degrees in gaithersburg. 52 in washington dulles. 55 in quantico. airport.gan national temperatures will fall tonight and winds will increase a bit because of this developing storm will bring rain to our area tomorrow, along with gusty winds. definitely not a pleasant outdoor weather day. we'll fill in the details, but going to head to alexandria to steve rudin. he's been checking the trick-or-treaters. steve, you've got good weather. what's it looking like down there? >> what a d

i'm flight to mojave immediately to be with the team.ard branson was chatting with me that space travel in general is something that we as a people, as humanity, should value, it was well worth the risk even though he didn't envision this type of risk. it was something he was standing behind, and his investors were standing behind that was from richard branson telling me on this asian space travel is well worth the risk, whether it's government or private enterprise. he is on his way to the site and the scene of this disaster today. >>> meanwhile, it's not even airborne but you can get it from a cough or sneeze? look at this on the cdc web site. graphics show how droplets from an infected person's sneeze or cough can survive on surfaces like doorknobs for hours. it's not something they talk about in public but this doctor is wondering why not. does this mean it is kind of airborne? what? >> they have been making a distinction between something which is airborne and droplet. ebola isn't ashe borne but you can get it through droplet transi

virgin galactic spaceship two exploded and crashed today in california's mojave desert. at least one person is dead and one is seriously injured at the hospital. these are the first images of debris. the space tourism rocket was on a test run when it exploded. the company said it suffered, a, quote, serious anomaly. richard branson tweeted that he's flying to mojave following crash of spaceship to be with the team. the national transportation safety board is sending a team to be on the ground in the morning. moments ago, virgin glal actic ceo addressed the tragedy. >> our primary thoughts at this moment are with the crew and family. space is hard and today was a tough day. we are going to be supporting the investigation as we figure out what happened today. and we're going to get through it. >> so where does this investigation go from here? joining us now, james oberg, an nbc news space analyst and former missioner controller. and katie higgins, former national transportation safety board. thanks to both of you for speaking with us. >> yes, hello. >> kitty, you've been o

the spaceship ii designed blew up dura flight over the mojave desert. another person was able to parachute out but seriously hurt. updates on the story as soon as they are available. >>> "healthcheck," the main nurse who fought against her quarantine after treating ebola patients in west africa won. kaci hickox free to leave her home after the judge rejected the state's limit to limit her movements. maine sought to confine her to the house until the incubation period ends saying it violates her rights. and she will continue voluntary monitoring. >>> and the candidate for governor waecsting no time it ia he was joined by bob casey. and the bus tour rallied voters in allentown, phoenixville and much more on his campaigning today on "action news" at 5:30 tonight. >>> and tom corbett trying to say he is the candidate with the most experience holding it for four years. and he is riding on the record in hopes of winning the re-election. >> i promise you that i will work very hard for the people of pennsylvania. >> republican tom corbett won with 54% of the vo

we are out front tonight in the mojave desert and paul you got to the edge of the debris field after the explosion. tell us more what you are hearing about it? >> reporter: one area of prime focus, a new fuel mixture. officials confirming they used a mixture for the first time in the air today they had only tested on engines on the ground. people who we talked to say they did not see any massive blast, it just separates from the rocket and becomes a glider. and at the debris field they say there is at least five separate debris fields and on the edge officers on the ground told us the pilot who was deceased was still in his seat inside of the space ship and then down the road further they found the sur viving pilot and -- surviving pilot and he had successfully deployed his parachute. he was taken to a nearby hospital, antelope valley, where he suffered moderate to major injuries. >> and you spoke to the chief executive, stewart wit after the press conference and we understand he was very emotional off camera. what did he say about this tragic event? >> it was somber. because we come

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." >>> a private space plane explodes into the mojave desert.u at 11:00. >>> on the broadcast tonight, catastrophe in the sky for the second time this week a private spacecraft goes down in flames. this time sadly people were onboard. >>> captured, the accused cop-killer and sniper who kept communities on edge for seven weeks is behind bars tonight. how police finally got their man. >>> halloween storm, a freezing night for millions of americans. early snow already creating a travel mess as hundreds of flights are grounded. >>> and fill'er up, a gallon of gas less than a gallon of milk. how long will it last? "nightly news" begins now. >>> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian will.

wreckage of spaceshiptwo is scattered across the mojave desert.est flight was part of plans to send tourists to the edge of space next year. the crash comes after an unmanned rocket headed for the international space station exploded just seconds after liftoff. i spoke with the chief astronomer at the franklin institute in philadelphia. it has been a bad week for commercial spaceflight. how big of a setback is this? >> one thing we have to keep in mind about this business chain is that there is a significant amount of risk involved. the risks can never be eliminated entirely. anyone in the program at the national level and also the companies involved understand that this sort of thing can happen. we always have to remember, particularly during launch or firing of any rocket motors, that all these machines are working at the extremes of temperature and pressure, and that presents all sorts of challenges and also all sorts of risks. so this is a bump in the road for both of these industries, both of these companies. >> it is called rocket science fo

it was a test flight of -- mojave desert. it was a test flight when something went wrong. there was a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of the vehicle. california highway patrol says at least one pilot is dead, the other seriously injured. spaceship 2 is typically flown by two pilots. the rocket is carried by a special jet which then detaches. that carrier jet landed safely. >> i have dreamed of going into space since i saw the first moon landings as a boy and now here we are about to launch the world's first commercial space line. >> reporter: virgin galactic is the brainchild of british billionaire sir richard branson who was planning to take a ride himself. the recreational space plane is designed for suborbital commercial flight, tens of thousands of miles above the earth. more than 700 customers have already signed up paying nearly a quarter million dollars per flight. virgin galactic is working with authorities to determine the cause of the crash. bigad shaban, cbs news. >>> actors leonardo dicaprio, ashton kutcher and kate winslet are reportedly on the customer

we're here in the mojave air- and spaceport in california.

headlines we're following, a commercial spacecraft exploded and crashed over a test flight in the mojave desert and the pilot was killed. a second pilot managed to eject and was seriously hurt. nobody else was on board. this was a suborbital passenger craft known as the spaceship 2 developed by billionaire richard branson of virgin galactic. the company says the space shift experienced some sort of in flight anomaly. >>> some quick thinking might have saved lives earlier this week when this rocket exploded off the virginia coast. a spokesman for orbital sciences says an official hit the self-destruct button moments after liftoff when it became clear there was a problem. the official decided to destroy the rocket then to make sure it did not crash in a populated area. no one was on board. >>> prosecutors say they'll push for the death penalty for the pennsylvania man accused of killing a cop. a crowd of spectators was there booing and taunting eric frein as police walked him to his first court appearance. frein did not enter a plea. police caught him yesterday near an abandoned airplane h

news conference in the mojave desert. a like picture after a devastating setback for commercial space flight. so far no explanations on speculations what could have caused the crash. a jergen galactic space plane on a test flight crashed after what's being called an in-flight anomaly. an eyewitness told the a.p. the spaceship exploded in flight, his words, after a rocket ignition. the copilot is dead. the pilot ejected. has moderate to severe injuries. here's a picture this morning of the mothership known as the white knight. the sub orbital spacecraft called spaceship 2 also on top of it. that's how they work. you would actually lift the aircraft, the spacecraft into air with a larger carrier craft underneath. the accident comes just months before it was scheduled to carry space tourists beyond earth's atmosphere to sfeerns zero gravity. the project is a joint venture between sir richard branson and imin aed aerospace engineer burt rutan called scaled composites now owned by publicly traded north tlup grumened. they're f

sir richard branson's virgin galactic tourism operator crashed during a test flight in california mojave desert killing the copilot and injuring the pilot. an faa spokesperson says ground control lost contact just after 10:00 a.m. local time. following release from the white knight two jet that carried it aloft. in the last hour, virgin galactic ceo said richard branson was on his way to the crash site and is expected to arrive tomorrow morning. for more, i want to get to boeing assistant professor .f aeronautics and only worry child. also with us editor-at-large cory johnson -- and leroy chow. lots of information and speculation. of speculation about what happened here. what do you think went wrong? what was goingke on from things i heard, it was a new powered flight with a new rocket fuel. i don't know if it's related at all. you have to wait and see what the review turns up. there are so many things in these complex systems that can go wrong. these are some of the very best engineers and test pilots in the world. even then, things can happen unpredictably. my guess is it might be rela

suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of two.e craft much of the debris was scattered the mojave desert. expressed desire to have people off the ground some time this year. this accident will make it difficult. if you ay, the rocket remember exploded on virginia beach. it was supposed to resupply the international space station. humans on that. it's taken up to the outer rim of space by aircraft. like the space shuttle although that used a rocket and released and it has own rock set and propels up to the outer edges of space. they reportedly seeing an explosion. >> thank you. closer now to our region there another story that has gripped for some time. the lawyer of the man accused of abducting hanna graham is psychiatric evaluation. attempted murder and sexual assault in a case that goes back to 2005. plea, but we fer a speak. r him >> i would prefer him to be my possible, if it's because i have built a relationship. >> fairfax authorities charged after they linked one case to hanna graham's abduction. back in two to be weeks. >> we turn to a developing story thee police are look

. >> lying on the beach in the mojave desert. >> i like a really itchy wool. >> very exciting, greg.ve to be covered in clothing. coming up, it is a cat. it is a dog. it is a cat dog. have videos of animals? have videos of animals? fox news.com/red eye. the conference call. the ultimate arena for business. hour after hour of diving deep, touching base, and putting ducks in rows. the only problem with conference calls: eventually they have to end. unless you have the comcast business voiceedge mobile app. it lets you switch seamlessly from your desk phone to your mobile with no interruptions. i've never felt so alive. get the future of phone and the phones are free. comcast business. built for business. last story. that's the last story. >> by the way, andy levey is on the independence later? >> tomorrow. >> he has the blood of a -- shut up. >> technically that's tonight. >> he has got the blood of a hound. i speak about florida keys cat, aren't they all, who received a life-saving blood transfusion from a dog. butter cup had the transfusion after they realized they would not get the

what you're looking at is the floor of the mojave desert, the test flight craft experienced a, quote,alifornia highway patrol got a report of the crash. earlier we had a shot of the piece of the part of the fuselage and it did indeed have the logo virgin

pilot apping to parachute away from the space craft as it blew up landing in the desert here in the mojaveis colleague killed possibly on impact. is he in the local hospital the local sheriff telling me that his injuries are described as major what' appears to have happened is photographer saw the spaceship explode shortly after detaching from the white knight 2 high altitude terrier. no indications what could have caused that. but we do know that shaysship 2 h. recently changed the kind of solid fuel it was using. investigation very much focusing on what happened there the families of the two pilots have been notified. but neither virgin galactic nor indeed the local authorities issuing those names at this time. ground control learned of something going wrong two minutes after the detachment of ship two from white night two. they got strange readings right now richard branson is on his way over from europe. is he is expected to arrive first thing in the morning. we also understand the ntsb will have an investigation team arriving around 7:30. and they will go to the site some 25 miles fro

spacecraft for virgin galactic space tourism business crashed during a test flight in california's mojaveat 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%. central banks are the key for investors.

this happens down in the mojave desert. first responders are headed to the area. the chp says officers are responding to a report of a crash. spaceship two has been under development. spaceship one was not equipped with an ejection seat. spaceship two has two pilots. we do not know their fate at this point. we do have crews headed to the scene. we'll bring you more information as it becomes available. >>> and back to our parade coverage. it is so close you could almost taste it. the giants world series parade is almost ready to begin. those folks have been waiting patiently, some of them since 7:00 this morning. >> in fact, we've been seeing shower activity since about 7:40. you can see the rain, even in pacifica, more is on the way. we'll get you to the all-important trick or treating forecast after that. >> as we leave you, let's get to know madison bumgarner better. he's 25 years old. born in hickory, north carolina. fun fact, his first word was "ball." >> really. >> outstanding postseason performance this year. bumgarner now has a .25 e.r.a. in world series, t

. >> mojave? >> negotiation in general. i'm not talking about radicals. if you read the press inspect arab countries or talk to people in the arab countries, you will see there's a level of acceptable sent semitism that nobody makes a big deal about. i cite in the book, for instance. i was in jordan for some conference and i opened up the jordan times, which is an english-language newspaper. this was several years ago and i read an account of what happened on september 9, 2001 and you know what that was all about? that was about the ma sad organizing that terrorist attack because no jews were killed in a terrorist attack on the world trade center, which is blatantly untrue. ridiculous and somehow every jew was told to get out of the place before they attacked. this one runs in the jordanian paper. these jordanian papers are censored. whether that piece was literally approved by the palace or not but it was accepted. this is endemic in the arab world. >> i remember having a conversation when i went over to do an interview with the leader and i was saying w