The company then built VSS Unity, designed with additional safety measures to prevent future accidents.
The spacecraft's development has had multiple setbacks, however, including a rocket engine explosion on the ground in 2007 that killed three Scaled Composite employees and the crash of the first SpaceShipTwo vehicle, VSS Enterprise, in 2014 that killed Virgin Galactic co-pilot Michael Alsbury and injured pilot Peter Siebold. Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo system came out of Branson's deal with Scaled Composites. He created the company to buy spacecraft built by aerospace designer Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites, which created the SpaceShipOne vehicle that won a $10 million prize for flying twice to the edge of space within two weeks. Personal Loans for 670 Credit Score or Lowerīranson has dreamed of going to space since watching the Apollo moon landings, and in 2004 founded Virgin Galactic to fly private passengers to space. Personal Loans for 580 Credit Score or Lower Best Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit