By Irene Klotz MOJAVE Calif. (Reuters) - Virgin Galactic could have a new spacecraft ready to fly by next year, the chief executive of Richard Branson's space tourism company said in an interview published on Sunday, reacting to concerns about the safety of technology used in the Virgin craft that crashed last week George Whitesides, the head of the company dedicated to Branson's vision of bringing everyday passengers into space, told the Financial Times the new fuel system used in Virgin's SpaceShipTwo during Friday's test flight in the Mojave Desert was rigorously tested. Whitesides said a second craft being built for Virgin was about 65 percent complete, sounding a note of optimism about the programme even as federal investigators were just beginning what is likely to be a year-long investigation into accident. “The second spaceship is getting close to readiness,” he said, adding that it could be ready to fly by next year once the probe by the National Transportation Safety Board reached its conclusions.
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