Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Breaking news, just days after the catastrophic launch failure of an unmanned rocket, Virgin Galactics spaceshiptwo has crashed in a california desert, killing one, injuring another. Its the same spaceship thats supposed to take paying customers on brief rides into space. The former astronaut mark kelly is standing by with our correspondents, our analysts, our newsmakers and others. Lets begin with cnns tom foreman who has the latest. Reporter the ntsb and faa are investigating what happened at here and the catastrophic failure far up in the air. Something went wrong inflight. And that is a very big deal right now. Ground control lost contact with the experimental spacecraft around 10 00 pacific time. The 500 million rocketpowered craft could seat six passengers. But during this test flight, only two pilots were on board. The spaceship is carried into flight beneath an airplane. That launch vehicle returned to the ground safely, but not the
Lost aircraft. A photographer covering the test flight told nbc news he witnessed a midflight explosion. According to the captain of the kern county fire department, the debris field is spread out over approximately two miles. The ntsb and the faa will send teams to investigate the crash on site. Richard branson, the billionaire founder of the virgin group tweeted his plans to fly to mojave immediately to be with the teams. Branson hoped to ride the first commercial flight on Virgin Galactics planned space program. The companys founder wasnt the only one looking for a ride into space. More than 700 customers have paid as much as 250,000 for a ticket to suborbital space. Joining me tonight on the phone is tom bunn, retired airline captain. Also with us this evening, Anthony Roman who is the ceo and founder of ac roman and associates. Thanks for your time tonight. In the experimental aircraft community, unfortunately these things happen. This is part of the business. Tom bunn, from what
Uncertainty also coming up. Turkish troops roll into Northern Syria clearing the way for land forces to make to move in its part of an offensive against Kurdish Militia the United States has asked turkey to show restraint. And pope francis says goodbye to peru wrapping up a latin american tour work thats been overshadowed by angry protests over the churchs handling of sexual abuse scandal. In the morning. My ass waiter thank you for joining us its been some four months since germanys parliamentary elections and tonight the country is finally one step closer to forming a stable government the social Democratic Party has voted to enter formal Coalition Talks with chancellor Angela Merkels conservatives and initial show of hands was to. Close to call so every vote of the more than six hundred delegates at the Party Conference had to be individually counted the outcome was a clear majority in favor of moving forward with negotiations. The vote was too close for comfort but in the end relie
Well show you what started this and how it ended. Lets get to it. Announcer now, Shepard Smith reporting lie from the fox news deck. Shepard good friday afternoon from the news deck. In the Russian Military showing of the new nuclear missile. President Vladimir Pugh and says it can strike anywhere on earth. Putin claims the United States and nato Missile Defense systems would be useless against the socalled satan two. The test launch comes as tensions are rising between russia and the United States and our allies a month for that matter over the poisoning of a former russian spy and his daughter in england. The kremlin denies any involvement, but investigators say the weapon was a nerve agent that the soviet union invented. Russias ambassador to the United States telling nbc news today show he cannot remember the last time relations were this bad between moscow and washington. Because it seems to me that its poison. Its a toxic atmosphere and today, russia is responsible for everything
Holiday from his twitter habit tonight, continuing his criticism of the federal judiciary in general and Supreme Court chief Justice John Roberts in particular on thanksgiving holiday when the president expressed his thanks to the troops while staying close to home. The president s florida resort in West Palm Beach tonight. Reporter happy thanksgiving, the president spending this thanksgiving evening having thanks giving dinner and spending time with his family, something he began by thanking those who were not as lucky. I dont want one. They look very big, 5000. Reporter a timehonored thanks giving tradition for the commanderinchief, extending gratitude to the American People to those who serve and protect, donald from doing so today in person and by phone. I want to express our profound gratitude for the extraordinary sacrifices you make to defend our nation while you are away from your families and loved ones. Reporter visible outpouring of appreciation from mister trump but in star