Space travel for the 1%: VirginGalactic's $250,000 tickets haunt New Mexico town

Private companies argue they're democratizing space exploration by offering it to celebrities and millionaires. But in New Mexico, locals are footing the bill

The craft broke up in the clear sky 45,000 feet over the Mojave desert. During a VirginGalactic test flight on a still October morning, pilot Michael Alsbury accidentally pulled a lever, prematurely deploying Spaceshiptwo's silver scissor wings. With a sound "like paper fluttering in the wind" the drag tore apart the fuselage and its logos for Land Rover and Grey Goose.

What was left was a flowering of red fabric in the scraggly bushes, the chute marking the site where co-pilot Peter Siebold floated 10 miles to earth. Alsbury did not survive.