Upham, N.M. – The inaugural launch from New Mexico’s spaceport crashed in the desert Monday as the unmanned commercial rocket failed in its mission to reach sub-orbital space.
The 20-foot SpaceLoft XL rocket was carrying experiments and other payloads for its planned journey 70 miles above Earth. The rocket took off at 2:14 p.m. and was supposed to drop back to Earth about 13 minutes later at White Sands Missile Range, just north of the launch site.
But the rocket crashed after reaching about 40,000 feet, said officials of UP Aerospace, the Connecticut-based company that funded the launch.
It was not clear by Monday evening where the craft landed, or what condition it was in.
Witnesses 3 miles from the launch site saw the rocket appear to wobble, then go into a corkscrew motion.
Spokeswoman Tracey Larson said UP Aerospace would try again with another rocket launch Oct. 21 from the same site. “If it was easy, everyone would be doing it,” she added.
Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, announced plans last year to base his space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, in New Mexico and to launch manned flights from the spaceport by the end of the decade.
