Cheeks and forehead. Here you go. The mugshot. It happened before Police Showed up. He was shackled with the very same handcuffs that belong to the state trooper he is accused of killing. Coward you low life [ applause ] wouldnt make it in the military you hear the people shouting at him from within that community not holding back. The jeers, the insults, as hes walked into court to hear the list of charges that could send him to death row if and when convicted. A huge sense of relief for the people in and around blooming grove, pennsylvania, who have been living in so much fear they even canceled halloween. Its just exciting. Were happy. We didnt go out for recess for weeks at school. I felt like i was in a war zone a couple weeks ago. It was hard to sleep for a few nights worrying about where is he at and where his whereabouts are but its a good thing now that hes caught and now we can finally rest again. Joining me now is Susan Candiotti who had the scoop last night. Youre here to talk more about this. Can you blame the people in this Community Living absolutely on edge. They had no clue where this guy was for seven weeks. What are we learning about how they found him . He simply ran out of time, didnt he . He managed to evade police all that time. What happened is they were recanvassing an area. They had been there before and they had previously searched the area. It was an abandoned airport and they go back and they seem him standing there. So they had element of surprise working for them. They said that he wasnt even looking. They came up on him. Got him down on the ground. Made him identify himself. He did. And they put the cuffs on him. The very same cuffs that as you said belong to the officer, the state trooper who was killed and rode him off in the same squad car as well. Those photographs we have seen that show the blood on his face. Authorities insist that he had those injuries before they put the cuffs on him. Listen. There was no struggle with Law Enforcement. He has talked to us about things that occurred to him while he made his way through the woods and so forth over that 40plus day period. That was an injury that occurred to him at some point in his flight. I characterized his actions in the past as pure evil and i would stand by that. Surprisingly this ended in a whimper because so many people thought that when he was caught that he would take himself out out or take out officers with him as well because it was about hatred for police but it didnt happen that way. The fact he was found in an abandoned location and many assumed he was out in the woods. He was 40 miles away from where the shooting all began september 12th. What did they find on him . We would like to know what he said at that moment in time. Working on that. Authorities are saying that he made statements or sources are telling us he made statements implicating himself in the shooting back on september 12th and they found there a diary where they believe to be his diary and also located a sniper rifle and a pistol. They are doing ballistics work on that to find out whether that is the same rifle that was the murder weapon. Eric frein caught. Susan candiotti, thank you. A bigger conversation now. It took nearly seven weeks to capture eric frein but within a week of this deadly attack he allegedly committed, investigators found what may be this slam dunk evidence if this case goes to trial. This note that was found at his campsite that according to state police say frein had abandoned and in it frein allegedly describes shooting and killing Corporal Brian Dixon who is on the left side of your screen. Father of two. And wounding trooper alex douglas. Investigators read an excerpt of it to reporters earlier this month. Friday, september 12th, got a shot around 11 00 p. M. And took it. He dropped. I was surprised at how quick. I took a followup shot on his head, neck area. He was still and quiet after that. Another cop approached the one i just shot. As he went to kneel, i took a shot at him and jumped in the door. His legs were visible and still. Thats what they found earlier in addition to what susan was just talking about, senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joining me now. Once this thing went down last night, all of a sudden you hear from prosecutors, Death Penalty. This is the kind of case where you say if this doesnt get the Death Penalty, what does . The magnitude of this crime, premeditation, the target, the unrepented nature of it all adds up to if a state is going to have a Death Penalty, it seems inevitable that they will seek it and they apparently are seeking it in this case. Explain to me. I had red only three people in the state of pennsylvania have been executed since 1976. You have to prove aggravating circumstance. What does that mean . Each state that has the Death Penalty has list of aggravating circumstances that a jury must find in addition to simply that the murder took place. The list varies somewhat. Pennsylvania is fairly typical and that is in the commission of another crime, premeditation, killing a Law Enforcement officer, all of them are aggravating circumstances that would allow a jury to impose the Death Penalty. Pennsylvania as you point out, executions have become very rare there. Executions have become rare in much of the country. The Death Penalty in terms of death sentences and execution is significantly down but this case, if you believe in the Death Penalty, cries out for it. To your point and all of your points about the journals, what we learned hes written about and what well learn that he said when he was caught, the planning and alluding the police, how could Defense Attorneys if they say insanity, how will that work . Thats pretty difficult to prove. The problem with insanity in a circumstance like this is insanity as we all know is very hard to define in the legal context. Basically what it means is you dont know what youre doing. You really think you are killing a watermelon and not a person. Thats insanity. He clearly knew if this evidence is all it turns out to be that he was killing a person and intended to do that. Now, obviously the defense is going to have to do a very thorough investigation of his background, see what happened to him. Did he have any brain injury . Any traumatic experience that might slightly give a jury a reason not to impose the Death Penalty but the facts look very bad for him. Its also interesting to see how personal this case has become. Officers going out of their way to preserve and use if they could and they did, the handcuffs that belonged to the slain officer, the slain trooper and using the same squad car. The big contingent at the initial hearing in court not that unusual but they have a big stake in the outcome here. The risk is when it becomes this personal for Law Enforcement, they sometimes make mistakes and thats just something to be aware of as this case unfolds. Certainly you can understand why they feel as passionately as they do. Jeff toobin, Susan Candiotti, thank you both very much. Coming up here on cnn, we will talk about the statement we are expecting from kaci hickox that came back through new jersey on her way home to maine last friday. Will she, wont she leave . What will she do . Despite what the governor of maine has said, she might be making a statement any minute. Well bring that to you live if and when that happens and news on the battle against isis in iraq. Word that American Military advisers are making plans to head to the volatile Anbar Province near baghdad. What does this mean for president obamas no boots on the ground statement . Thats coming up. A party . Hi. Im new ensure active clear protein drink. Clear huh . My nutritional standards are high. Im not juice or fancy water. Ive got 8 grams of protein. Twist my lid thats three times more than me. 17 vitamins and minerals. And zero fat hmmmm. You bring a lot to the party yay new ensure active clear protein. 8 grams protein. Zero fat. 17 vitamins and minerals. In delicious blueberry pomegranate and mixed fruit. Breaking news. This is kaci hickox standing outside of her home in maine. So much focus on her. Shes the nurse who came over from west africa initially was quarantined by the state of new jersey when she flew through newark. It frustrated her. She talked about what had happened and feels shes asymptomatic. Shes talking about the judge ruling lifting the quarantine on her. Im humbled today by the judges decision and even more humbled by the support that we have received from the town, the state of maine, across the u. S. And even across the globe. I know that ebola is a scary disease. I have seen it face to face. I know that we are nowhere near winning this battle. Well only win this battle as we continue this discussion, as we gain a better collective understanding about ebola and Public Health, as we overcome the fear and most importantly as we end the outbreak that is still ongoing in west africa today. To my fellow healthcare workers in west africa, boast national and International Staff risking their lives to fight this disease today, my thoughts, prayers and gratitude remain with you. It has been a privilege to work with you and as a Global Community we can end ebola. Thank you very much. The state says the roommate in sierra leone has ebola. That is incorrect. I dont want to focus on that today. I want to focus on the fact that we have a really good decision that offers human treatment to healthcare workers coming back after working to fight this terrible disease. The judge asked if you would be sensitive to the fears in the community. What does that mean to you . You know, i completely understand that. I am sensitive. This is one of the reasons i am saying this battle isnt over. We need to continue this discussion. We need to continue educating ourselves and i dont want to make anyone uncomfortable. I think so far ted and i have shown a lot of respect to this community. We care about the community. You know, im a nurse and a Public Health worker. I dont want to make people uncomfortable. It was amazing. I just had another piece this morning. This is a good question. I am taking things minute by minute. Tonight im going to try to convince ted to make me my favorite japanese meal and i think were going to watch a scary movie since its halloween. Are you satisfied by the judge today . Im very satisfied by the decision. The three points that he is still recommending that i abide by are three points that i believe is part of this good compromise that we can make. I have been compliant with the direct active monitoring that the cdc recommends. Ill continue to be compliant. Yes. Its just a good day. What do you say when people say you are riling people up . I dont have a comment for the governor. Are you going back to west africa . We will see. I hope so. I love working overseas. Its been a large part of my life since 2006. Theres just probably never going to be a time in my life i would say i wouldnt go back. Do you have travel plans to go into town or anything like that . Im taking things minute by minute. Thank you though. Are you welcoming trickortreaters . We dont have any candy currently because we havent been shopping for a while. Thank you all so much. I really appreciate it. And happy halloween. My goodness. What a past couple days for this young nurse. Went over to sierra leone to treat ebola victims and comes home and a lot of cameras outside of her home and for a news worthy reason. The state of maine says one thing. Cdc says another. Shes kaci hickox. Lets go to jean casarez. I also have Jeffrey Toobin good enough to stick around with me as well and well talk about legalities of this in a minute. She said this is in reaction to this judge overturning the quarantine imposed by the state of maine and mentioned three points shell abide by. This good compromise she reached. What are those three points . Reporter they are, number one, direct active monitoring, which means that once a day a maine cdc official, health worker, comes to the home, asks her questions about how she feels and takes her temperature and just observes her. That will need to continue for the remainder of the 21 days. If shes going to travel at all in public transportation, she has to alert and work it out with the Public Health authorities here in the state. Number three, if she gets any symptoms at all or feels anything, she Must Immediately contact the Health Officials in maine. I have to tell you, i was standing here minutes ago when she spoke, and she was so extremely gracious in person as you watched her talk and humbled today by the judges decision. Jean, stay with me. Jeff toobin, just weighing in on this whole thing. What do you think . Moral of the story, do not mess with kaci hickox. This is one impressive woman. I mean, she said i want this decision to be made on the basis of science and not on the basis of fear. The state of maine said were going to insist on you being quarantined and she said, oh yeah and she went to court or her interests were represented in court and the judge said, you know when . Well do this on the basis of science and not on the basis of fear and hysteria and now there seems to be a reasonable compromise where she is not going to provoke people. Under the law today, she could get on the new york city subway. She could travel on a plane. Shes not going to do that. Shell behave in a restrained and responsible way but shes also not going to be told by a bunch of politicians where she can and cant go. Shes following what weve heard from dr. Frieden at the cdc based on science and even the president of the United States. And remember, she has been as exposed to ebola as people who met with the president. They are safe enough to meet with the president and they are safe enough to live in a house in maine. There you have it. Jeff toobin, thank you very much. Jean casarez, thank you for me in maine. Lets move along. We do have some more breaking news this afternoon. Were getting reports of what is being called a flight anomaly. A flight anomaly. This took place with Virgin Galactic space ship 2 spacecraft. Well get more on that after this commercial break. Le. Aflac and a gentle wavelike motion. Ahhh ahhhhhh. Liberate your spine. Ahhhahhhhhh. Aflac and reach, toes blossoming. Not that great at yoga. Yeah, but when i slipped a disk he paid my claim in just four days. Ahh four days . Yep. See why speed matters at aflac. Com. [sfx] duck snoring heres breaking news were just learning and we dont have a lot. This is what we have from Virgin Galactic space ship 2. It experienced an anomaly. Details on what an inflight anomaly means in this situation we dont know yet. We are working to get details. We know that Virgin Galactic, they have planned for years to sell these trips in which this space ship 2 will take passengers. Richard branson included. 62 miles above earth. The beginning of outer space and allow them to experience those few minutes of weightlessness and that sense of awe that far out before returning back to ground. So fridays test as this is based in california, thats where this happened. This is keep in mind what we saw earlier in the week. Not connected whatsoever but as far as space is concerned, this is incident number two in a single week. A rocket exploded six seconds after liftoff. All right. I have one of our aviation analysts on the phone with me. What the heck does an inflight anomaly mean . We were just discussing that with producers. It could be almost anything. It could be a computer glitch. It could be some sort of trajectory issue. Flight control issue. Anomaly is a vague and general term for something that normally doesnt happen and cant really be explained. Its not something we normally associate that with computer based issues on the airplane. What more do we know about the test flights . This is something they have been working on for a long time. Hes allowed cnn crews out there to see what it will entail. A lot of excitement surrounding the space ship 2 taking passengers going up to periphery of space. This is something theyve been working on for a while. They have and its a lot of innovation in aerodynamics and in the concept alone to take just the average every day passenger up into what qualifies as space. Theyve been around for a long time with very interesting and innovative aerodynamic design and quite a bit of experience at it. What it could be at this point in time is really hard to say. You have been looking at pictures of what the space ship 2 images of what it would look like. Were working to get in contact with Virgin Galactic folks to explain what happened here. We know the space ship 2, part of this Virgin Galactic that in some time they want to take a group of passengers who will pay a pretty penny to get on this space ship 2 to travel 62 miles above earth at the beginning of outer space and allow these people to experience what it must be like to head that far out and be weightless before coming back home. They experienced an inflight anomaly. Stephanie elam is joining me now. Were learning the idea of an anomaly and what they tweeted out and were trying to get behind what happened there and if there is any loss of life. Were seeing reports but its not confirmed at this point. This is happening out in the Mojave Desert 100 miles northeast of where we are here in los angeles and what we do know about this space ship 2 its supposeded to have six passengers when operating and two pilots. Were trying to find out if there were two pilots on hear and what was going on. Thats what were looking for. Its a combination of a rocket and a glider. The idea like you were saying, take people up to just the edge of space and then find their way back down to earth is the idea here that we heard about for a few years now. This is sir Richard Bransons brain child and something hes high on and been behind. Were looking for more information on exactly what happened with this anomaly. Well keep looking into it. Were hoping to get more information and let facts unfold as we get them from Virgin Atlantic. Stephanie elam, thank you. Lets get a quick break in. Well talk to miles obrien, one of our other cnn aviation analysts on the other side of the break. More on the breaking news from Virgin Galactic next. Intelligently designed. Raftd with available forward collision warning and new blind spot monitor and a 2014 top safety pick plus rating. Cost of entry . A fortune. Until now. Hey sarah, new jetta . Yup. Can i check it out . Maybe at halftime . Introducing lots of new. The new volkswagen jetta. Isnt it time for german engineering . Try zyrtecd® to powerfully clear your blocked nose and relieve your other allergy symptoms. So you can breathe easier all day. Zyrtecd®. Find it at the pharmacy counter. When you think aarp, then you dont know aarp. Life reimagined gives you tools and support to get the career youll love. Find more real possibilities at aarp. Org possibilities. To get the career youll love. Ameriprise asked people a simple question in retirement, will you have enough money to live life on your terms . I sure hope so. With healthcare costs, who knows. Umm. Everyone has retirement questions. So ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. Now you and your ameripise advisor. Can get the real answers you need. Start building your confident retirement today. Do you have the coverage . You need . Open enrollment ends december 7th. Dont put it off til later. Nows the time to get on a path that could be right for you. With Unitedhealthcare Medicare solutions. Call today to learn about the kinds of coverage we offer, including aarp medicarecomplete plans insured through unitedhealthcare. These Medicare Advantage plans can combine parts a and b, your hospital and doctor coverage. With part d Prescription Drug coverage, and extra benefits. All in one complete plan. For a low monthly premium, or in some areas no plan premium at all. Unitedhealthcare doesnt stop there. Youll have 0 copays for preventive services. Like an annual physical and most immunizations. Other benefits could include routine vision and hearing coverage and the pharmacy Saver Program gives you access to prescriptions as low as 1. 50. At thousands of pharmacies across the country, in Retail Locations like these. Just a few ways we connect you with the people and programs. To help give you a better healthcare experience. Call to enroll today and enjoy these benefits and more, like smart ways to save and tools to help you stay healthy. Most plans also include part d Prescription Drug coverage. Your healthcare needs are unique. Thats why, with over 30 years of medicare experience, well help make things easy to understand and guide you every step of the way. Open enrollment ends december 7th. So dont wait another day. If youre medicare eligible, call now. And talk to unitedhealthcare about our plans, like aarp medicarecomplete. Lets get you on the right path. Call unitedhealthcare today. You are watching cnn. Im brooke baldwin. Back to breaking news from Virgin Galactic as we learned according to the company, the space ship 2 has experienced an inflight anomaly during a test flight today. These are pictures, renditions of what this piece of aircraft looks like. Theyve been planning for years and years to sell these tickets, these Incredible Opportunity to take passengers just to the beginning of outer space to allow people to experience what that must feel like. This has been a Long Time Coming for Virgin Galactic. What specifically an inflight anomaly is, thats what were working on confirming. Miles obrien, cnn aviation specialist. You know a lot about this. What do we know im guessing you dont know specifics about what this anomaly is, correct . Lost miles. Okay. As we work to get miles obrien back on the phone because he is the person i would love to talk to, Stephanie Elam is with me. Throw the pictures up so our viewers can see what this looks like. This has been years in the making to take these people up into the periphery of space. What do we know . The whole idea here is to let an average regular old citizen of earth to find their way and feel that weightlessness at the edge of space. What would happen here with space 2 is you go up to the edge of space. The pilots would actually remove themselves from the rocket as its on its way up and six passengers inside are supposed to be able to get that weightless feeling for a few minutes. Engines would be off. They could take those pictures. Do whatever they want. Say they were in space and get back into their seats and then glide back to earth. Thats the idea behind this rocket to allow people to do that. This is not something that has been used yet from what we understand. This is a test run it looked like was happening here today going on out in the desert out here in california. The idea was to be able to really just allow anyone who wanted to and who could afford to feel what it was like to be in that weightlessness of space to allow them to do that with two pilots on this one which is a bigger version than the one they had before. Thats what the idea here is behind this. Still trying to get clarity on exactly what happened. Trying to get clarity on the pilots. Were now getting visuals in that are coming in from one of our affiliates in los angeles. Kabc. They are seeing activity out here in the Mojave Desert of what has happened. We are hearing that there was a crash. Still waiting to confirm that as well. And trying to find out what has happened with the pilots onboard. Unconfirmed reports at this point that one pilot may have perished. Were trying to confirm that. Let me jump in, Stephanie Elam. Stay with me as we look at live pictures over the Mojave Desert. You can see the area cordoned off with police tape. Miles obrien, i hear we have you. Can you hear me, sir . Yes, i can, brooke. What a devastating week for commercial space. This news is just a complete blow to the gut. This was an important test for Virgin Galactic after nine months of down time as they worked to come up with a new engine for the space ship 2. As you may recall, the roots of this program go back to 2004 at which time space ship 1, a smaller craft developed by scale composites proved they could fly to space in a short period of time and when we say space, were talking about 62 miles is the arbitrary line between space and being on the planet. Out of that, Sir Richard Branson of the virgin brand decided to create the Virgin Galactic space line idea and space ship 2 is a much larger version of the test craft. Two pilots and then were losing you. Miles obrien, we just lost you. What he was saying and that was interesting. Two pilots. He was talking about two pilots that would have been flying on the space ship 2 and thats when we lost him. Were working to get him again. Youre looking at live pictures. If youre just joining us, this is what we know. Its not a lot. Were working on getting more information. On the right side of your screen, this is live pictures over the desert. What we have is this. This Virgin Galactic, this space ship 2, part of this massive program under Sir Richard Branson to make a number of people as miles was explaining just sort of to the edge of space. 62 miles out. Thats that line between earth and space. Take them out when they pay the price to see what that looks like and what that feels like. What has happened today. There was a test flight that potentially as miles was mentioning involved two pilots and so what were looking at on the right side of your screen, we saw something on the ground. I cant speculate. I wont tell you what i thought it was. We know that fire officials responded to a report in california of an aircraft down in the desert. This is between two different highways in the middle of nowhere as it appears. This spacecraft has been under development. Theres a massive area in the Mojave Desert thats all part of this Virgin Galactic project to get people to this area, to this periphery of space. Its just northeast of los angeles. It is carried aloft by this spae specially designed jet. Its released before igniting the rocket for this suborbital thrill ride into space and as Stephanie Elam was mentioning that just looks like brush. Trying to keep one eye on the screen and one eye on my notes. You go up into space and you return to earth gliding. Stephanie, are you with me . I am with you, brooke. A lot going on here as we try to look at whats going on here in the desert to get these images cleared up. The other thing that passengers are supposed to get out of this is that incredible gforce. As we keep researching this. So they say at one point the acceleration will be nearly 2,500 miles per hour. More than three times the speed of sound if you can imagine that. So that if you think about the intensity of a ride like that, and the need to test it. Let me jump in. Were getting information. Looking at the Virgin Galactic twitter page. They have this update. Scale composites conducted this powered test flight of this space ship 2 earlier today. During the test the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss they characterize this as a loss of space ship 2. The other craft landed safely. They say Virgin Galactics concern is status of the pilots. There were two. It is unknown at this point in time. We will work closely with relevant authorities to determine the cause of the accident and provide updates as soon as possible. Live pictures. Left side of the screen is what the space ship 2 would look like. Lets get more information. Quick break. Back after this. Take a deeeeep breath in. And. Exhale. Aflac and a gentle wavelike motion. Ahhh ahhhhhh. Liberate your spine. Ahhhahhhhhh. Aflac and reach, toes blossoming. Not that great at yoga. Yeah, but when i slipped a disk he paid my claim in just four days. Ahh four days . Yep. See why speed matters at aflac. Com. [sfx] duck snoring means keeping seven billion ctransactions flowing. G, and when weather hits, its data mayhem. But airlines running hp endtoend solutions are always calm during a storm. So if your business deals with the unexpected, hp big data and Cloud Solutions make sure you always know whats coming and are ready for it. Make it matter. Breaking news on cnn. I want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world as this has been just a shot to the gut really for the space industry this past week. First a couple days ago a rocket exploded over virginia and now what you are looking at you saw some lettering there. It said virgin as in Virgin Galact galactic. Live pictures northeast of los angeles in the Mojave Desert. What were learning from Virgin Galactic is they were testing space ship 2. This is the flight thats supposed to carry celebrities, stars, americans who are paying 250,000 to experience what it is like to see just the edge of space. Some 62 miles out. And now youre looking at bits and pieces of this space ship. Theres been an anomaly. Lets stay precise on the language. An inflight anomaly led to what you are looking at here. A number of people will be joining me including one of our correspondents here at cnn covering all things space for a number of years. Shes been inside space ship 2 and been to this major complex thats Virgin Galactic and i think whats most important to explain to our viewers is how this space ship is taken up in space if they are test flighting this thing with whats called the white knight. The white knight lifts space ship 2 up to 50,000 feet and then space ship 2 launches off. White knight 2 landed safely but space ship 2 suffered an anomaly. Clearly it suffered a crash. Ive been inside space ship 2 and its supposed to be piloted by two pilots. So i know they said there are pilots involved. Were not sure if those pilots were piloting white knight 2 or actually space ship 2 itself. Thats what we have from these tweets just coming in from Virgin Galactic as we try to stay abreast of what happened. We dont know. During this test, this vehicle, this space ship 2 suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of the space ship. The first concern is status of the pilots which is unknown at this point in time. Richard qwest, our aviation correspondent, is joining me here as well. Richard qwest, tell me more. Over the years ive covered the Virgin Galactic since its inception when it was announced in 2008 that this was going to be the first realistic space tourist operation. Since then of course as its gone from stage to stage, sir richard has been extremely optimistic they would be on target for traveling passengers into orbit or into suborbital orbit to be more precise. There has been differences on how high this craft would go and launching mechanism of the craft and way it was to be flown. They have 700 people who are prepared to pony up 200,000 and sir richard himself this is interesting he said on that first flight that he would be on it with his family. I asked him numerous times. You know, isnt this very risky . Hes always said, we wont do it if theres a risk. What youre seeing now, of course, is very dramatic. Very different and this was space tourisms best, perhaps only hope in the near future and something has gone very seriously wrong. Looking again at live pictures, mojave, california, as you can see looks like investigators on the ground trying to find the different pieces of this space ship 2. The big question, the status of the pilots. Richard, would we know would the pilots be up in space ship 2 with parachutes . No. I dont know directly on that. I never heard that being suggested. Space ship 2 was always and has always glided back. The idea is it takes off and gets released ands go into suborbit. You have how many minutes of no gravity and then the thing glides back to earth. The big problem that they have had with space ship 2, with the whole project so far, is the old one of weight versus fuel versus thrust. Thats why they have been experimenting, testing these new plastic based fuels which were not sure if this was involved in this incident. Thats what theyve been trying to do. So far, brooke, all of the tests have never reached the required speed and velocity to get the orbit up with the number of passengers, six passengers, into space and into lower orbit. Thats what theyve been playing around with. Richard branson said first flight expected to be march of next year. As you can see, there was still much experimentation taking place. And now of course it becomes a very different story tonight. Right. Thus the test flights and as you point out this is something that Sir Richard Branson has been so passionate about. He wanted to take that first flight along with his family and then reportedly all the names weve within reporting allegedly steven hawking, ashton kutcher, justin bieber. Just last year i did a story on the commercial aspects of Virgin Galactic. Their office is less than a quarter mile from where cnn is based in london. We went to the place where they sell the actual rides and these High Net Worth individuals, none of whom we were allowed to meet, none of whom we were given names of, but if you go and talk to them and you go talk to the people, many of whom are people were involved in Virgin Atlantic and have moved across to Virgin Galactic and if you talk to their sales people, they have always put the highest premium on safety. Now were trying to figure out where sir richard is. He lives most of the year in the caribbean on his island. He left the u. K. For tax reasons and is now based there so well get touch with him obviously to see how this progresses. As we work to get in touch with sir richard, let me just hit pause with you. We have tweets but more importantly we have a statement from Virgin Galactic. Poppy harlow is joining me now. I know you have been to this area in mojave, california. Youre in touch with Virgin Galactic folks. What have they said . Let me read you this statement, brooke, in full. Its important for people to hear it and then well talk more about what surrounds this. This just came from virgin gallingga gallingga galactic. They conducted a power test flight of space ship 2 earlier today. During the test the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of the vehicle. The white knight 2 carrier aircraft landed safely. Our first concern is the status of the pilot, which is unknown at this time. We will work closely with the relevant authorities to determine the cause of this accident and provide updates as soon as we are able to do so. The headline is unknown status of the pilots. Let me explain what this is. Scales composites is the company that builds these space ships and we were out in mojave and we have that video for you last year doing a big story on this with Richard Branson. Space ship 2 is the actual shays ship that launches from the carrier called the white knight 2 and then goes into orbit. The white knight 2 is a plane that carries the space on top of it. That landed safely but of course the pilots would there would be pilots in space ship 2 and they do not know at this point in time what their status is if they are okay or not. Were also being told that Virgin Galactic will hold a press conference at the space port located in the Mojave Desert in california at 2 00 pacific time so 5 00 eastern. Obviously very troubling that this has happened and that they dont know the status of the pilots. I remember your piece. I remember you being out with Sir Richard Branson and Walking Around that area of mojave. This is something that hes been so incredibly passionate about. This program getting people to that suborbital orbit. You are so right. He said this is the project of his that hes the most passionate about personally means the most to him. He was planning and at this point has been planning to take his family along with him up first once they got that final faa approval. They were in those faa approved test flights now. I just sat down with Richard Branson for an interview about a month ago at cnn and he told me that he believed they would get that final approval for Virgin Galactic to bring normal people like you and me and everyone that wants to go up there and can afford it up to space as early as 2015. He was planning to take that flight with his family as early as the beginning of next year. It is far too soon to know what this does longterm to this program but you also have to think about the fact that this is a completely new completely new thing for the world to send people that are not astronauts up into space and with something new does come risk and he acknowledged that. He said we will not make this public. We will not officially launch this past the test flights until were 100 sure its safe. This was supposed to be the first realistic space tourist trip. This has been a huge, huge deal. Poppy harlow, stay with me. I have an astronaut on the line. Michael, can you hear me, sir . Yeah, i hear you loud and clear. My goodness. What a week between the rocket a couple days ago and now this space ship 2 with Virgin Galactic. Its a punch in the gut. Yeah. Its a reminder that things can happen when you try to do bold things in space. You can have setbacks. I dont know much im hearing what im learning from you on this one with virgin. Well have to find out more before we can count on it. It could be a rough business. As someone though who has been, you know, to space who has been part of the Space Program and knowing that there are multiple private enterprises trying to get regular folks if i may, not astronauts such as yourself, who can afford that 250,000 ticket up to this suborbital orbit, its a tragedy certainly when you consider there are multiple pilots who were on this space ship 2. What to you know . I hear you saying that youre learning from me. What do you make of this notion of sending people up into 62 miles into space . I think that hopefully were at the brink of a new era where you have capability of these private kbenterprises where you have people who see the way to expand opportunities in space to experience space but also a way to make money on it and i think this is great. This is where the technology has gone in the past. Government leads the way and thin commercial enterprise turns it into a business. Hopefully were at the brink of that where this becomes an industry where many people experience space and people can be successful businessmen and women doing this. I think weve got right now i say im learning from you because the accident they had a couple days ago with orbital was a cargo flight and no one was hurt. I think in this case it sounds like there may be a possibility of people being hurt. We dont know what the status is and thatsy thi y why i think to be cautious about what we say about this because it would be a different situation. I think it may be a different situation. Let me go to los angeles to our correspondent there working to get more information as we talk about pilots. Stephanie elam, you do have news on one of these pilots. Go ahead. Yes, its sad news. We confirmed through the california Highway Patrol that one person has died and that theres another person with major injury after this space ship 2 accident. We would infer from this these were two pilots. This has not been confirmed. One person has died and the other injuries are serious at this point. Thats what were learning right now, brooke. Stephanie, stay with me. Michael, assuming i still have you, when you now hear the news incredibly tragic news, one pilot confirmed dead. The other suffering major injury. You add what were looking at here in mojave, california, with what happened a couple days ago with that rocket that was supposed to take cargo and science projects and what not up to the International Space station, how big of a setback is this . Well, you know, the cargo flight was one situation where its a setback. We have other ways to get cargo to the space station. These things are going to happen. This thing that you are describing now, i hear this as youre hearing it and my heart is beginning to sink. Im wondering who it is and for whoever that person is, if its someone that we know in the space community. Wherever that persons family is, you know this is a pretty bad day. I dont even know if thats the case, if its someone that sounds like you have confirmation, which is a really bad day. I dont really know what else to say about that. I think thats what we need to concentrate on and as far as setback goes, if that information is accurate, thats probably going to be quite a setback. Your heart is sinking. My heart is sinking. Nasa astronaut on the phone with me reacting to the tragic news today. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world as we have now confirmed at least one of the pilots onboard this Virgin Galactic space ship 2 as died and the other pilot is suffering major, major injuries. These are live pictures from mojave, california. As we learned from Virgin Galactic which is sir Richard Bransons company in california. Huge excitement over wha