Bad Astronomy

Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Suffers Major Accident

Earlier today, the Virgin Galactic private suborbital rocket plane SpaceShipTwo suffered a major malfunction and crashed in the Mojave Desert. At least one person, the pilot, was killed, and reports are still coming in.

I am unfortunately on travel today, so I cannot cover this story in real time. Please follow Jonathan McDowell, Alan Boyle, and Emily Lakdawalla on Twitter for updates.