Pete Siebold, 43, escaped with just an injured shoulder when the Virgin Galactic spacecraft broke apart mid-flight and crashed in the Mojave desert Investigators  are trying to piece together how SpaceShipTwo's surviving pilot  managed to escape the rocket as it disintegrated around him and parachute to the ground from an altitude virtually devoid of oxygen. Pete Siebold, 43, sustained just an injured shoulder when the Virgin Galactic spacecraft broke apart mid-flight and crashed in the Mojave desert last Friday, killing co-pilot Michael Alsbury, 39. Christopher Hart, acting chairman for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that is leading the crash investigation, said Mr Siebold did not exit through the cockpit's escape hatch.
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Pete Siebold, 43, escaped from the spacecraft and parachuted to safety
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He was at roughly 50,000 feet - an altitude virtually devoid of oxygen
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Investigators said Mr Siebold did not exit through the cockpit's escape hatch
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Co-pilot Michael Alsbury, 39, was killed in the disaster over Mojave desert
The suborbital rocket vehicle dubbed @placeholder broke into pieces shortly after it separated from the special jet plane that carries it aloft for its high-altitude launches.