One pilot was dead, and another critically injured when Virgin Galactic's SpeceShipTwo rocket plane experienced what company officials said was "a serious anomaly" during a Friday test flight.

The FAA said ground controllers at the Mojave Spaceport lost contact with the experimental space flight vehicle shortly after 10 a.m. PT.

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The rocket plane was outfitted with cockpit parachutes, which were deployed, according to the Kern County Sheriff's Department in California. Witnesses said the explosion occurred high in the sky with debris falling to the earth.

Multiple debris fields were arrayed across the desert floor. A Federal Express driver said he found the body of one of the pilots strapped in a cockpit seat on the desert floor. The two pilots were the only people on board and haven't yet been identified.

The deadly explosion occurred following the WhiteKightTwo carrier plane release of the spaceship on an attempt to go into suborbital space. SpaceShipTwo blew up in mid-flight as the carrier craft fired up a rocket engine for the first test since last January. The craft's debris plummeted in California's Mojave Desert, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles.

Virgin Galactic issued a statement saying the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft had landed safely.

While Virgin Galactic, and founder Richard Branson, have been extremely enthusiastic and confident, in their ability, to create a private space program for commercial passengers, engines needed for the space ship have proved a challenge, sources said.

The technology hadn't kept pace with the enthusiasm and had been a problem throughout the program, said Joel Glenn Brenner, a former Washington Post reporter who has covered the program. Brenner said the pilot's lives were needlessly put at risk by faulty technology.

Testing over the last nine months has revolved around SpaceShip Two's fuel mixture. The highly unstable plastic-based mixture from a rubber-based compound was essential to creating the thrust and lift necessary to propel the spaceship into sub-orbital space.

The last technology test took place on Oct. 7 when SpaceShip Two, essentially a glider, took an unpowered test flight over the desert. That test didn't go well. The craft spent hours on its runway as technicians tried to work out unspecified glitches, according to reports.

Branson, the billionaire behind the program, had said he hoped to ride on Virgin Galactic's first commercial flight in 2015. More than 700 customers had signed up to take the ride 62 miles, or 100 kilometers, into suborbital space when the program came online. They had paid as much as $250,000 each for the privilege.

TagsVirgin Galactic, Space, SpeceShipTwo, NASA, Richard Branson