Space

On Friday, an experimental space plane crashed in the Mojave desert, killing one of its pilots. Now new details have emerged about what went wrong in the moments before the crash.

NPR's Scott Simon talks to reporter Joel Glenn Brenner about the Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two crash. She knew both pilots who were on board the spacecraft.

The Virgin Galactic Spaceship Two was undergoing a test flight when it crashed in the California Desert. The spaceship is designed to take tourists to space.

Investigators spent the day at a NASA launch facility in Virginia trying to understand why a private cargo rocket exploded moments after liftoff. There were no injuries but the accident is a setback for the company, Orbital Sciences, and NASA. NASA is relying on private contractors to help ferry supplies to the International Space Station. The accident also changed the discussions happening at an annual space convention being held this week in Huntsville, Ala.

Melissa Block speaks with high school freshman Natalie Moyer about her experiment that was lost on the Antares rocket when it exploded on Tuesday.