Richard Branson on his way to rocket crash scene

MOJAVE, Calif. (AP) — British billionaire Richard Branson is headed to California’s Mojave Desert after a Virgin Galactic space tourism rocket exploded and crashed, killing one person and seriously injuring another.

A tweet from Branson’s Twitter account thanked people for their messages of support and said he was “flying to Mojave immediately to be with the team.”

Officials and witnesses say Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo exploded Friday after taking off on a test flight. No other details were immediately available.

Branson is the founder of Virgin Galactic. The company is planning to launch space tourism flights from the quarter-billion-dollar Spaceport America in southern New Mexico.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Federal News Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up