Co-pilot Michael Alsbury was killed in the accident and pilot Peter Siebold was seriously injured but managed to escape after activating his parachute system.
Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board is continuing its investigation of the incident, which marks the first in-flight fatality suffered by a commercial spaceflight effort.
The NTSB said an onboard video showed that co-pilot Michael Alsbury, who died in the crash, prematurely pulled a lever that unlocked SpaceShipTwo's wing-feathering brake system. That action was taken seconds after the plane lit up its rocket motor, and just moments before the catastrophic breakup.
Branson and the rest of the team are pressing on with the Virgin Galactic venture, which has signed up about 700 customers to take suborbital space trips at a cost of as much as 250,000 a seat. A second SpaceShipTwo plane is under construction, and work is proceeding as well on Virgin Galactic's LauncherOne system for sending small satellites into orbit.
Virgin Galactic's pilots took WhiteKnightTwo, the wide-winged airplane that's designed to carry SpaceShipTwo up for launch, out for a practice flight "just before people started trickling out to spend time with their families for the holidays," Will Pomerantz, the company's vice president for special projects, told NBC News.
In his New Year's retrospective, Branson gave a nod to Alsbury and Siebold as well as to Virgin Galactic's customers.
"When this story is told in years to come, I believe alongside the bravery of Mike and the incredible tale of Pete's survival will stand the story of the commitment, loyalty and passion of the world's first private astronauts," Branson wrote. "And so Virgin Galactic goes on, with an unwavering commitment to safety and a renewed sense of purpose."
Credit: virgin.com, nbcnews.com, dailymail.co.uk
