Sir Richard Branson has vowed to continue his space tourism venture despite a Virgin Galactic spacecraft crashing during a test flight over California's Mojave Desert.
The Virgin Group founder arrived in the desert today, and has described the journey to the crash site as "one of the most difficult trips I have ever had to make".
In a post on his website, Sir Richard said: "Space is hard - but worth it. We will persevere and move forward together."
"We've always known that the road to space is extremely difficult - and that every new transportation system has to deal with bad days early in their history," he added.
One pilot died in the crash and another was seriously injured when he ejected from the rocket plane and parachuted to the ground.
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Gallery: Images Showing Wreckage Of SpaceshipTwo In The Mojave Desert
SpaceShipTwo and its mother ship WhiteKnightTwo are pictured before the test flight. Pic: Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites/Jason DiVenere
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Part of the wreckage from the Virgin Galactic SpaceshipTwo lies in California's Mojave Desert after it crashed
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Photographer Ken Brown said the craft was released from the plane that carries it to high altitude, ignited its rocket motor and then exploded
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Two pilots were on board. California authorities said one died and the other was badly hurt
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A witness said the space tourism craft exploded during a test flight over the desert
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The aim of such flights was to assess SpaceShipTwo in preparation for suborbital trips to the edge of space about 62 miles above the Earth
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Hundreds of people have already reserved seats and paid a deposit on the $250,000 (£156,000) ticket price for the flights. Pic: Virgin Galactic
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After several delays, Sir Richard Branson's company had hoped to start taking passengers to the edge of space in 2015
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But space expert Marco Caceres said: "You are not going to see any commercial space tourism flight next year or probably several years after that."
The fatality is the project's fourth, with three killed in an explosion in 2007 while working for Scaled Composites, the company working with Virgin Galactic to build the rocket plane SpaceShipTwo.
Virgin Galactic, part of British billionaire Sir Richard's Virgin Group, had been aiming to begin tourist flights to the edge of space next year.
SpaceShipTwo has been under development at the Mojave Air and Spaceport.
The tragedy occurred after SpaceShipTwo fired up its rocket following a high-altitude drop from Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo mothership.
Stuart Witt, chief executive of the space port, said the cause of the crash remains unclear.
Virgin Galactic said it will work with authorities to determine the cause of the accident. The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating.
It is the second disaster involving a US spacecraft this week.
On Tuesday, another private company's unmanned rocket exploded six seconds after launch on a resupply mission to the International Space Station.
Virgin Galactic's 60ft (18 metre) long SpaceShipTwo was testing a redesigned rocket motor as it made its first powered flight since January.
The rocket plane, which was attached to the underside of WhiteKnightTwo, took off at 9.19am local time (4.19pm GMT) on Friday in California.
It is not the first accident involving SpaceShipTwo.
During testing for the development of its rocket motor in July 2007, an explosion at the Mojave spaceport killed three workers and critically injured three others.
Virgin Galactic aims to become the world's first commercial "spaceline", sending customers willing to pay up to $250,000 (£156,000) for a short journey into zero gravity and a glimpse of the planet from the edge of space.
The company previously said it has accepted more than $80m (£50m) in deposits from hundreds of people who hope to be among the first space tourists.
British physicist Stephen Hawking, comedian Russell Brand, actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Ashton Kutcher, and singer Justin Bieber are said to have signed up.
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