NBC is reassessing the future of its planned series with Richard Branson‘s Virgin Galactic after Friday’s fatal crash of SpaceShipTwo, an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap.
A decision has yet to be made on the series announced in October 2013 under the title “Space Race.”
Produced by Mark Burnett‘s One Three Media, “Space Race” was intended to be an elimination competition series where everyday people compete for the ultimate prize of a trip into space on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. The series was to have unprecedented access to Virgin Galactic’s home at Spaceport America in New Mexico, the departure point and training and preparation center for space flights.
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An NBC representative declined to comment for this story.
As TheWrap previously reported, SpaceShip2 exploded Friday over the Mojave Desert after suffering from a major malfunction. The California Highway Patrol said at least one person was killed — which has been reported to be one of the two pilots, though not confirmed at this point — and another was injured.
The SpaceShipTwo rocket is manned by two pilots and was in the testing phase at Mojave Air and Space Port, which is located in the Mojave Desert northeast of Los Angeles.
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Branson expressed his remorse via Twitter Friday afternoon, saying he is traveling to the crash region to join his staff. The British billionaire founded Virgin Galactic, a commercial spaceflight subsidiary of the Virgin Group aimed at putting solvent tourists on suborbital spaceflights, in 2004.