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Two Crashes in One Week Threaten Nascent Private Space Travel Industry

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo went down Friday afternoon, killing at least one while highlighting safety concerns that Richard Branson said could kill the space tourism industry. Investors see private space travel as the market of the future. According to the Space Angels Network, an organization created to connect investors with entrepreneurs in the private space travel ...

MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images
MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images
MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo went down Friday afternoon, killing at least one while highlighting safety concerns that Richard Branson said could kill the space tourism industry.

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo went down Friday afternoon, killing at least one while highlighting safety concerns that Richard Branson said could kill the space tourism industry.

Investors see private space travel as the market of the future. According to the Space Angels Network, an organization created to connect investors with entrepreneurs in the private space travel business, in 2012 the global space economy was valued at over $300 billion. The network says it is expected to grow to $600 billion by 2030

This week shows why that optimism could be misplaced.

On Tuesday, an unmanned rocket manufactured by Orbital Sciences, a Virginia company NASA has contracted to resupply the space station, exploded during its launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. This engine used in the flight, the Antares 130, is powered by old Soviet engines.

Details on what happened to the Virgin flight are still emerging. One person is dead, and another is injured. Debris from the craft, which went down after separating from a vehicle that gets it into the air, is being found in the Mojave Desert.

For years, Richard Branson, who owns a part of Virgin Galactic, has touted the bright future of space tourism. In February, he said that he and his children would be on the first space tourism flight.

"Everybody who signs up knows this is the birth of a new space program and understands the risks that go with that," Branson said in an interview for Weekend magazine. "But every person wants to go on the first flight."

He even alluded to the fact that accidents could kill the industry. Right now, tickets to space cost a minimum $250,000 each.

"The biggest worry I had was re-entry. NASA has lost about 3 percent of everyone who’s gone into space, and re-entry has been their biggest problem," he added. "For a government-owned company, you can just about get away with losing 3 percent of your clients. For a private company you can’t really lose anybody."

"Thoughts with all @virgingalactic & Scaled, thanks for all your messages of support," Branson tweeted after the crash Friday "I’m flying to Mojave immediately to be with the team."

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