Sir Richard Branson has admitted the fatal Virgin Galactic crash is a "massive setback for commercial space travel" - but said he hopes the programme will be back on track in six months.
Speaking publicly for the first time following the SpaceShipTwo crash over California's Mojave Desert, the Virgin Group founder said: "It is a horrible day for Virgin Galactic, for commercial space travel - it's a massive setback.
"But we've got to pick ourselves up and see whether the problem is fixable, and hopefully move the programme forward.
"I'm hopeful we'll be able to overcome the problems."
Sir Richard said the programme could be "back on track between four and six months" if the problem proves to be "clear cut".
But he added that to "push on blindly" without knowing the cause would be an "insult" to the pilot who died.
His comments comes as a coroner named the pilot killed in Friday's tragedy as 39-year-old Michael Alsbury.
His co-pilot, Peter Siebold, was badly injured after parachuting to the ground.
The British entrepreneur arrived in the desert on Saturday and described the journey as "one of the most difficult trips I have ever had to make".
"Pushing the bounds of possibility comes with unavoidable risk," he told a news conference.
"We are standing on the shoulders of giants, yesterday we fell short.
"We owe it to the test pilots to find out what went wrong. If we can overcome it we'll make absolutely certain the dream lives on.
"The bravery of test pilots generally cannot be overstated."
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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."
Sir Richard was speaking at the Mojave Air and Space Port, where National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators arrived to begin their work on Saturday lunchtime.
Initial findings are expected to be revealed on Saturday night.
NTSB acting chairman Christopher Hart said it was not yet known if a black box data recorder was installed on the doomed craft.
He said: "This was a test flight and test flights are typically very well documented in terms of data.
"We may get some video feed. We may have lots of evidence that will help us with the investigative process."
The tragedy occurred after SpaceShipTwo fired up its rocket following a high-altitude drop from its WhiteKnightTwo mothership.
The fatality is the project's fourth after three people were killed in a 2007 explosion while working for Scaled Composites, the company that teamed up with Virgin Galactic to build SpaceShipTwo.
Virgin Galactic had been aiming to become the first commercial "spaceline", by beginning tourist flights to the edge of space next year.
Customers will 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.
British physicist Stephen Hawking, comedian Russell Brand, actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Ashton Kutcher, and singer Justin Bieber are said to have signed up.
Sir Richard told reporters a new customer had enrolled since the crash, while one customer said he has not been deterred despite the tragedy.
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