The investigation into what caused the Virgin Galactic test flight to crash could take as long as 12 months, lead investigator Chris Hart has said.
Mr Hart, who is acting head of the National Transportation Safety Board, also told reporters that his team would interview injured co-pilot Peter Siebold when he was ready.
Sir Richard Branson has said the drive towards his dream of commercial space travel sees his test team "standing on the shoulder of giants", but added: "yesterday we fell short".
Sir Richard said nobody working on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo "underestimates the risks involved in space travel" as he quoted a tribute from Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, a former test pilot, justifying the dangers of testing.
Speaking at a news conference at Mojave Air and Space Port in California, the Virgin Group boss also thanked those sending support from across the globe, saying: "If I could hug every person who had sent messages of love, I would."
Faced with a five-mile debris trail and masses of technical data, the team investigating the crash of SpaceShipTwo have their work cut out.
The loss is a tragedy for this small tight-knit team that dreams of making the trip into space accessible to travellers not just astronauts.