Virgin Galactic investigation 'could take a year'

Several would-be space tourists have applied to Virgin Galactic for refunds following last month's doomed test flight.

Company chief executive George Whitesides said "a few" of its 800 customers have pulled out of taking part in a future mission into space.

It comes after co-pilot Michael Alsbury, 39,died when the test flight aircraft crashedin the Mojave Desert in California on October 31. Surviving pilot Peter Siebold, 43, was said to be alert and speaking with family members and medical staff in hospital days after the fatal launch.

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, told reporters that his team would interview injured co-pilot Peter Siebold when he was ready.

He added that the large amount of data from the test flight could speed up the investigation, but that it looked likely to go on some time.

Investigators looking into the fatal test flight of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo aircraft say a "feathering" system deployed too early.

ITV News' Science Correspondent Alok Jha explains how it works:

It is not yet clear why the system deployed, or whether this caused the aircraft to break up in mid-air. These are questions for the investigation which is due to last up to a year.

• More: Investigation into fatal Virgin Galactic test flight gets underway

Sir Richard Branson has said that people have continued to sign up for his plan for space tourism, despite the crash over the weekend. The Virgin boss said he even had two people sign up for a space flight on the day of crash.

Responding to safety questions raised by from former employees, Mr Branson said: "We have 400 of the world's best engineers working there, we have very few engineers ever leave us because they love working for the company.

"We're going to achieve some incredible things and I think we are going to make a radical difference to this world," he added.

Investigators in America say a safety device on the Virgin Galactic spacecraft had been deployed too early when it crashed on Friday.

But they say they can't yet work out why the device had gone wrong.

ITV News reporter Sejal Karia has the latest:

Sir Richard Branson has told ITV News that he felt "uncomfortable" over the weekend as "self-proclaimed experts" said that an explosion brought down the Virgin Galactic space-plane.

He said: "We knew there was no explosion. We knew that the fuel tanks and engine were all intact, and we found it uncomfortable over the weekend when so many self-proclaimed experts, particularly in the UK, came out saying there had been an explosion."

For the full interview with Sir Richard Branson watch the lunchtime ITV News at 1.30pm.

Virgin Galactic has moved to defend its safety record and denied reports the firm ignored warnings ahead of a test flight crash in which one pilot died and another was seriously injured. It had been claimed concerns were raised about the safety of their project which aims to send tourists to space.

In a statement Sir Richard Branson's spaceflight company refuted any allegations they had ignored safety warnings.

"At Virgin Galactic, we are dedicated to opening the space frontier, while keeping safety as our 'North Star'. This has guided every decision we have made over the past decade, and any suggestion to the contrary is categorically untrue," the company said.

Engineer Geoff Daly has filed complaints with several American government agencies over the use of nitrous oxide to power the spaceship's engine.

The SpaceShipTwo rocket disintegrated in mid-flight after a key lever was moved earlier than it should have been, the acting head of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has said.

Chris Hart explained that the ship featured two sections at its back known as "feathers", which are designed to rotate to create more drag as the ship re-enters the earth's atmosphere.

To allow 'feathering' to take place, two handles have to be moved - one which locks and unlocks the feathers, and the other which moves them into position.

However, Mr Hart said data recovered from SpaceShipTwo showed that the 'lock/unlock' handle was moved but the second lever, known as the 'feathering handle', was not.

Mr Hart also said the 'unlock' handle was released at a speed of Mach 1.0, below the required speed of Mach 1.4

However, he emphasised strongly that investigators were still far from establishing the cause of the ship's disintegration.

"We are a long way from finding cause, we still have months and months of investigations to do, a lot that we don't know. We have extensive data sources to go through," he said.

Read: NTSB has found 'all the important parts' of SpaceShipTwo

Investigators in California have "all of the important parts" of the SpaceShipTwo rocket, according to the acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Chris Hart told reporters investigators had found "the fuel tanks, the oxidiser tanks and the engine" all intact and showing "no signs of burn-through", meaning there did not appear to have been an explosion.

He said the search had been complicated by the spread of the parts, which were scattered over a five mile area in the Mojave desert.

Mr Hart also said the NTSB were conducting "a number of interview" relating to the crash, but said details would not be released until the investigation was finished.

Read: Investigation into Virgin Galactic test flight begins