--- description: Lightweight debris from last week's in-flight breakup of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane has been found as far away as 30 to 35 miles from... title: SpaceShipTwo Rocket Plane Debris Spread Over 35 Miles image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3242dfb9296fb125/698763fdf887dc039de87de9/141103-ntsb_05445d81eea9bf151ca76098219a560a.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Space](/tag/space/) ## Space Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # SpaceShipTwo Rocket Plane Debris Spread Over 35 Miles, Says NTSB by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 4, 2014 1:58 PM CUT  Acting NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart uses a model to demonstrate how the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane was supposed to "feather" its wings during an interview with the a video crew, Nov. 3, 2014. Acting NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart uses a model to demonstrate how the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane was supposed to "feather" its wings during an interview with the a video crew, Nov. 3, 2014.NTSB by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 4, 2014 1:58 PM CUT Lightweight debris from last week’s in-flight breakup of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane has been found as far away as 30 to 35 miles from the main crash site, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday night. The dispersal of debris testifies to the thoroughness of the plane’s disintegration, after an anomaly that occurred on Friday during a flight test high above California’s Mojave Desert. SpaceShipTwo’s wing-feathering system — [a mechanism that’s designed to slow the craft down during its descent](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/virgin-voyage/how-spaceshiptwos-feathered-wings-were-supposed-work-n240256 "undefined") — has emerged as a focus of the NTSB’s investigation. Experts on human performance have been added to… [Read more from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/virgin-voyage/spaceshiptwo-rocket-plane-debris-spread-over-35-miles-ntsb-says-n240556 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3556111/spaceshiptwo-richard-branson-virgin-galactic/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3556111/spaceshiptwo-richard-branson-virgin-galactic/"},"headline":"SpaceShipTwo Rocket Plane Debris Spread Over 35 Miles, Says NTSB","datePublished":"2014-11-04T13:58:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:03:35.688Z","description":"Lightweight debris from last week's in-flight breakup of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane has been found as far away as 30 to 35 miles from...","url":"https://time.com/3556111/spaceshiptwo-richard-branson-virgin-galactic/","keywords":["Space","Tech","Transportation","Accident","Virgin Galactic","Richard Branson"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3242dfb9296fb125/698763fdf887dc039de87de9/141103-ntsb_05445d81eea9bf151ca76098219a560a.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3242dfb9296fb125/698763fdf887dc039de87de9/141103-ntsb_05445d81eea9bf151ca76098219a560a.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SpaceShipTwo NTSB","caption":"SpaceShipTwo NTSB","creditText":"NTSB","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3556111/spaceshiptwo-richard-branson-virgin-galactic/","name":"SpaceShipTwo Rocket Plane Debris Spread Over 35 Miles, Says NTSB"}}]}] ```