Virgin Galactic [...] Local authorities have confirmed that one of the two Scaled Composites pilots died during the accident”. This was in strong contrast to public communications previously released concerning the group's successful flights, which had routinely presented pilots, craft, and projects within the same organizational structures, as being "Virgin Galactic" flights or activities of "the Galactic team". The BBC's David Shukman commented that: “Even as details emerge of what went wrong, this is clearly a massive setback to a company hoping to pioneer a new industry of space tourism. Confidence is everything and this will not encourage the long list of
Space Coast Office of Tourism by 2011 when the final Space Shuttle mission took place, the Space Coast Office of Tourism argued that the reduced dependency on the industry would allow the region to cope with the expected economic downfall. The office is responsible for advertising, and traditionally they have focused on consumer markets. This has included advertising in newspapers (both within Florida and in parts of northwestern and southwestern United States), billboards, posters and television advertising, with their first television campaign screening in 1995. In 1992 the office had a budget of $2.5 million, of which $1 million was directed to consumer advertising. By