Virgin Galactic's Spaceship Two rocket plane crashes after "in-flight anomaly"

© Reuters/Gene Blevins

Richard Branson's plans for commercial space travel suffered a blow on Friday when one of his "rocket planes", SpaceShipTwo, crashed.

The plane was undertaking a test flight from its base in the Mojave desert when an "anomaly" occurred, Virgin Galactic said.

- Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic)October 31, 2014

#SpaceShipTwo has experienced an in-flight anomaly. Additional info and statement forthcoming.

According to NBC News, the aircraft was forced to wait on the runway at the test site for three hours, while the ground team assessed the weather conditions, before it took off.

Analysts have been sceptical about whether Branson's plans for commercial space travel can be achieved. The launch date has been repeatedly delayed.

Almost 700 people, including Tom Hanks and Angelina Jolie, have paid to book a two-hour journey on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, which would include a planned five minutes of weightlessness.