The full horror of the crash of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo rocket emerged last night as witnesses described seeing the stricken pilot who died hurtling to earth in his ejector seat. The accident over the Mojave desert in California – which was still unexplained last night – killed American pilot Michael Alsbury and injured his co-pilot, fellow American Peter Siebold, 43, who managed to parachute from an altitude of nearly 50,000ft and amazingly survived. But Sir Richard Branson yesterday angrily dismissed critics who said the accident was predictable due to his commercial rocket ship’s ‘crude’ design, insisting that it would be ‘irresponsible’ to comment before a full investigation.
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Witnesses described seeing stricken pilot Michael Alsbury hurtling to earth in his ejector seat after the explosion
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The accident over the Mojave desert, California, killed Mr Alsbury and injured his co-pilot Peter Siebold
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Mr Siebold was able to parachute from an altitude of 50,000ft and amazingly survived despite the lack of oxygen
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Sir Richard Branson angrily dismissed critics who said the Virgin Galactic rocket ship's accident was predictable
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Safety warnings were issued as long ago as 2007 after a previous explosion killed three workers
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He also revealed that someone had signed up for a flight after the tragedy, but that refunds were available
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British billionaire Sir Richard told The Mail on Sunday that he and his son would be on the first commercial space flight
While praising his pioneering spirit, critics have accused @placeholder of overstretching himself with his latest venture, which he describes as his ‘boldest yet’.