Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson sounded a cautionary
tone in the wake of Friday's crash of the company's rocket-powered
space plane, pledging to pursue space tourism but only after making
safety improvements.
"We're not going to push on blindly," Mr. Branson vowed in his
first public comments since the crash, which killed one test pilot
and injured another.
Michael Alsbury, 39 years old, was identified as the test pilot
killed in the accident, while Peter Siebold, 43 years old, was the
surviving crew member, according to the Kern County sheriff.
Mr. Branson said the pilots were employees of Scaled Composites,
a unit of Northrop Grumman Corp., which designed SpaceShipTwo and
its carrier aircraft, WhiteKnightTwo.
SpaceShipTwo, the experimental Virgin rocket, broke apart
following the ignition of its rocket engine, soon after being
released from a carrier aircraft. The system is designed to
eventually lift paying customers into space.
Mr. Branson reminded a news conference in Mohave, Calif., that
in the early days of aviation there were major safety problems and
"then aviation became very safe." In the same way, he added, "we
hope that one day the test pilots will enable people to go to space
safely."
Meanwhile, U.S. National Transportation Safety Board acting
chairman Christopher Hart said the safety watchdog had begun its
investigation early Saturday after arriving in Mohave. Mr. Hart has
appointed Lorenda Ward investigator in charge. Ms. Ward is a
veteran investigator and headed up the NTSB's effort to investigate
the 2009 crash of Colgan Air 3407 in Buffalo, N.Y.
Mr. Hart remarked that the NTSB had earlier participated in the
investigations of both Challenger and Columbia space shuttle
disasters, but the SpaceShipTwo investigation would be its first as
lead investigator of an accident involving a space launch
vehicle.
The accident has left the Virgin venture reeling, and Mr.
Branson said he hoped the company's work would continue. "We owe it
to the test pilots to find out exactly what went wrong," he said.
"If we can overcome it, we will make absolutely certain that the
dream lives on."
Mr. Branson said Virgin Galactic's effort has involved "the
biggest test program ever carried out" for a commercial space
project "precisely to ensure this never happens to the public."
Mr. Branson said those who have reserved a place on the
company's spacecraft are entitled to a refund, though he expected
most of the 700 would-be space travelers putting down deposits to
stick with the program. Prices range from $200,000 to $250,000 a
seat. "Most of them will be patient longer," he told the news
conference.
He said none of the $80 million ticket revenue collected so far
had been put toward development of the spacecraft.
Mr. Branson had previously said he and his son would be on the
first commercial flight as early as next year, but didn't respond
to a question at Saturday's news conference asking if he still
planned on being the first.
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