Richard Branson shelves plan to explore world's deepest oceans

Richard Branson has put an end to his plan to explore world's deepest oceans after Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo crashed during testing earlier in 2014.

Virgin Oceanic's project, which was first announced in 2011, aimed to use an 18-foot deep-sea submarine to "fly" along the floor of the world's deepest oceans and to carry out five dives, one each to the deepest points of all five of Earth's oceans, in the space of two years, the Verge reported.

Virgin Oceanic's DeepFlight Challenger submarine was unveiled in a blaze of publicity in April 2011, with Branson, who himself intended to pilot the sub's second mission, describing its mission as "the last great challenge for humans."

Three years on, the DeepFlight Challenger has been mothballed, never having reached the bottom of any of the oceans and the Virgin Oceanic website that had promised "five dives, five oceans, two years, one epic adventure" no longer exists, apparently taken down earlier in 2014.

However, the company that built DeepFlight Challenger has told The Telegraph it refused to back the project, insisting the submarine was suitable for only one dive and could not be reused because of the pressure on its structure at such depths.

This past August, Branson published a letter online that seemingly cemented the end of the Virgin Oceanic program and wrote that starting new ventures takes a "screw it let's do it" attitude, but business is also about knowing when to change tack.

He then explained how Virgin Oceanic has shifted its goals to "democratize access at reduced cost and increased safety" and they are all still highly passionate about exploring the bottom of the ocean.