Sir Richard Branson has
vowed to continue his space tourism
venture despite the fatal crash of a
Virgin Galactic rocket ship in the US.One pilot died and the other was badly injured when SpaceShipTwo exploded in California's Mojave Desert on Friday.
Investigators are on their way to the crash site, north of Los Angeles.
Mr Branson, founder of the Virgin Group and a long-time advocate of commercial space travel, said he was "shocked and saddened" but would "persevere".
Virgin had hoped to launch commercially in 2015. It has already taken more than 700 flight bookings at $250,000 (£156,000) each, with Mr Branson pledging to travel on the first flight.
'Serious anomaly'
SpaceShipTwo was flying its first test flight for nine months when it crashed shortly after take-off near the town of Bakersfield, California.
In a statement, the company said SpaceShipTwo experienced "a serious anomaly" after the craft separated from its launcher, an aircraft called WhiteKnightTwo.
WhiteKnightTwo landed safely.
It later emerged that the space craft was burning a new type of of rocket fuel never before used in flight, although officials said it had undergone extensive ground testing.
Sir Richard said Virgin Galactic would co-operate fully with the authorities involved in the investigation.
Officials with the US National Transportation Safety Board will begin their investigation on Saturday morning, which will probably take several days.
The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating, officials said.
Source:BBC
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