MOJAVE, United States // British tycoon Richard Branson insisted on Saturday his dream of commercial space travel remained alive but warned his company would not “press on blindly” without knowing what caused the spacecraft crash that killed one pilot and seriously injured another.
Speaking to reporters after arriving in the California facility which had been the hub of Virgin Galactic’s ambitious space programme, Mr Branson said safety remained his paramount concern.
“We owe it to our test pilots to find out exactly what went wrong, and once we’ve found out what went wrong, if we can overcome it, we’ll make absolutely certain that the dream lives on,” Mr Branson told reporters.
“We do understand the risks involved, and we’re not going to push on blindly. To do so would be an insult to all those affected by this tragedy.
“We’re going to learn from what went wrong, discover how we can improve safety and performance and then move forward together,” he said, adding they were working with authorities in the investigation.
“We’ve been undertaking a comprehensive testing programme for many years and safety has always been our number one priority,” Mr Branson said, before heading off to rally grieving Virgin Galactic staff.
Mr Branson’s comments at the Mojave Air and Space Port came as a team of federal investigators began probing the causes of Friday’s accident, which dealt a devastating setback to the cause of commercial space tourism.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) acting chairman Christopher Hart told reporters investigators were entering unknown territory but hoped to find clues to the accident in data gathered by Virgin Galactic.
“This will be the first time we have been in the lead of a space launch that involved persons on board,” Mr Hart said.
It was not immediately known if a black box flight data recorder was installed on the doomed suborbital craft, Mr Hart said.
“This was a test flight and test flights are typically very well documented in terms of data,” Mr Hart said. “And we may get some video feed. We may have lots of evidence that will help us with the investigative process.”
Witnesses to Friday’s accident said there was no obvious sign of an explosion from the ground after SpaceShipTwo was released by its mother ship, WhiteKnightTwo, at an altitude of 13,700 metres.
“If there was a huge explosion, I didn’t see it,” said Mojave Air and Space Port chief Stu Witt. “From my eyes and my ears, I detected nothing that appeared abnormal.”
More than 500 people have already reserved seats for a minutes-long suborbital flight on SpaceShipTwo.
Virgin Galactic’s first commercial flight — in which Mr Branson and his family have vowed to travel — has been repeatedly delayed, but before Friday’s crash was tentatively forecast for the first half of 2015.
Private companies are rushing to fill the gap left by Nasa, which ended its 30-year shuttle programme in July 2011 with a final Atlantis mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
Analysts said the accident is a huge blow to the nascent industry.
“You are not going to see any commercial space tourism flight next year or probably several years after that,” said Marco Caceres, an analyst and director of space studies for the Teal Group, a defence and aerospace consultancy.
Nasa voiced shock at the crash.
“While not a Nasa mission, the pain of this tragedy will be felt by all the men and women who have devoted their lives to exploration,” said Nasa Administrator Charles Bolden.
“Space flight is incredibly difficult, and we commend the passion of all in the space community who take on risk to push the boundaries of human achievement.”
* Agence France-Presse
