Sir Richard Branson has insisted he still intends to travel to space with his family with Virgin Galactic despite the fatal crash during a test flight.
US investigators say they have not ruled out the possibility of pilot error on board SpaceShipTwo, which crashed in the Mojave Desert in California on Friday, killing co-pilot Michael Alsbury, 39.
Sir Richard, the billionaire tycoon behind the project, said surviving pilot Peter Siebold, 43, escaped serious injury and should be out of hospital in the next few days.
He said Virgin Galactic could “move forward” despite the disaster as he vowed to travel on board the space flight with his relatives once safety tests have been completed.
Sir Richard told Sky News: “We’ve spent many, many years building a spacecraft, a mother ship, a space port, that I think can do the job and do the job safely.
“We will not start taking people until we’ve finished a whole massive series of test flights and until myself and my family have gone up, and until we feel that we can safely say to people ‘we’re ready to go’.”
He added: “All I can say is we will not fly members of the public unless we can fly myself and family members. We need to be absolutely certain our spaceship has been thoroughly tested − and that it will be − and once it’s thoroughly tested and we can go to space, we will go to space. We must push on. There are incredible things that can happen through mankind being able to explore space properly.”
Once it’s thoroughly tested and we can go to space, we will go to space
Sir Richard also criticised the “irresponsible innuendo” in some of the reports of the crash, including claims there had been a mid-air explosion and that some engineers had left the project over safety concerns.
“It was incredibly hurtful to the 400 engineers who have worked so gallantly at Virgin Galactic,” he said. “It was insulting. If the press had looked at the photographs they would have seen full fuel tanks and engines all intact on the ground and yet they were talking about a massive explosion.
“They were talking about people ejecting out of the plane and ejector seats. We don’t have ejector seats.
“It was the British press at its worst and some of them should hang their heads in shame.”
Sir Richard said there was “overwhelming global support” for the project and he had received hundreds of supportive e-mails, including two people who signed up for flights on the day of the disaster.
“I’m absolutely convinced Virgin Galactic has a great future,” he added.