The investigation into the fatal Virgin Galactic spaceship crash has found one of the pilots deployed the "feathering" function too early.
Camera footage from inside SpaceShipTwo revealed that the key safety feature which helps the craft descend was unlocked by the co-pilot.
But the head of America's National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Christopher Hart, stressed he was not saying this had been the cause of the disaster and that the investigation was still in its earliest stages.
Mr Hart said the "feathering" function - which involves the rotation of the tail boom - should have been deployed when the vehicle was travelling about 1.4 times the speed of sound.
But the feather began rotating when the vehicle was travelling at Mach 1.0.
"Normal launch procedures are that after the release, the ignition of the rocket, and acceleration, the feathering devices are not to be moved," he said.
"The lock/unlock lever is not to be moved into the unlock position until the acceleration is up to Mach 1.4. Instead, as I indicated, that occurred at approximately Mach 1.0."
Mr Hart also said the craft's fuel tanks and engine had been recovered intact, indicating there was no explosion.
He told reporters the fuel tanks and engine showed no signs of "burn through" or of being breached.
"The engine burn was normal up until the extension of the feathers," Mr Hart told reporters.
Nearly all the important parts of the vessel had been recovered and had been taken to a hangar for examination.
SpaceShipTwo crashed into California's Mojave Desert during its 35th test flight shortly after being released at high altitude from its mothership WhiteKnightTwo.
Virgin boss Richard Branson said the NTSB were doing "an incredibly thorough investigation" and that "irresponsible innuendo" in some sections of the media over the cause of the crash had been "hurtful".
Speaking to Sky News from his Virgin Islands retreat Necker, he said: "It was incredibly hurtful to the 400 engineers who had worked so gallantly at Virgin Galactic and all the engineers who worked on the manufacture of the spaceship.
"If the press had looked at the photographs they would have seen full fuel tanks and engine intact on the ground.
"Yet they were talking about a massive explosion and of people ejecting out of the plane; we do not have (ejector) seats. The British press at its worst, to be honest."
Leading British rocket scientist Carolyn Campbell-Knight has told Sky News that the crash was an accident waiting to happen.
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Gallery: Virgin Galactic Crash Wreckage
Investigators examine the wreckage of the Virgin Galactic spacecraft which crashed in the Mojave Desert. They claim it could take a year to determine the cause of the accident
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The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) team is expected to spend the next week at the crash site in California
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The ship broke up in mid-air during a test flight on Friday. One of the pilots was killed and the other injured
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The team has already completed its first full day of the investigation
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Officials say they are expected to trawl through "extensive data" - which is why the full investigation could take about 12 months or so
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The craft's debris was spread over an area measuring five miles from end to end
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Police secured the crash site in the Mojave Desert amid fears that some of the debris could be explosive
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The spacecraft was on its first test flight for nine months when it crashed near the town of Bakersfield
She said: "I was shocked and upset but I wasn't surprised. It was always my opinion sooner rather than later something would go wrong with this device."
But Virgin Galactic has rejected the claim. The firm had been aiming to become the first commercial "spaceline" by beginning tourist flights to the edge of space next year.
Mr Branson emphasised that the crash occurred during a test flight and that Virgin would not take tourists into space unless it was safe.
"I once said if we had an accident... once we had started carrying passengers in the early days, it would be very difficult to recover from that," he said.
"I think that hopefully this is slightly different, in that we had test pilots testing the spacecraft, in extreme situations, to make sure it was safe for passengers."
:: Virgin Galactic Crash: What We Know So Far
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