By Sky News US Team
One person is dead and another injured after a Virgin Galactic suborbital rocket plane crashed on a powered test flight over California.
The tragedy occurred after SpaceShipTwo fired its rocket motor following a high-altitude drop from Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo mothership.
California Highway Patrol reported one fatality and one "major injury" after Friday's incident.
SpaceShipTwo on an earlier flight
Virgin Galactic, part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, aims to begin space tourist flights to the edge of space next year.
The company said in a statement to Sky News: "Virgin Galactic's partner Scaled Composites conducted a powered test flight of SpaceShipTwo earlier today.
"During the test, the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of the vehicle.
"The WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft landed safely. Our first concern is the status of the pilots, which is unknown at this time.
"We will work closely with relevant authorities to determine the cause of this accident and provide updates as soon as we are able to do so."
TV pictures showed wreckage from the crashed aircraft in the Mojave Desert.
Virgin Galactic is part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group
Parachutes were reportedly spotted in the air.
Two pilots were thought to have been aboard SpaceShipTwo, according to scanner discussions.
The craft was testing a redesigned rocket motor as it made its first powered flight since January.
SpaceShipTwo, which was attached to the underside of WhiteKnightTwo, took off at 9:19am local time (4:19pm GMT) from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California.
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