Virgin Galactic shares soared more than 24% after the opening of listings on the New York Stock Exchange. Earlier, the company announced the date of the first commercial flight into space.
Shares of Richard Branson rose 24.4% to $4.49 a share in early trading on Monday. At 20:55 Moscow time, growth slowed to 11.9% and the price fell to $4.04 per share.
The rise in the value of Virgin Galactic shares is associated with the recent announcement of the Galactic 01 space mission. The company announced that the first commercial flight will take place by the end of June 2023. Other details have not yet been revealed, including the names of the first commercial passengers.
At the same time, the press release reports on the Unity 25 test flight, which is scheduled for the end of May. In addition to the crew members, there will be four passengers on board: Jamila Gilbert, Christopher Huey, Luke Mays and Beth Moses.
Beth Moses is a member of Virgin Galactic’s first test mission. In July 2021, the Unity spacecraft with a full crew, including Richard Branson himself, made a suborbital flight and successfully returned to Earth.
Previously, Virgin Galactic repeatedly postponed the launch of the first commercial flights into space. When the company announced at the end of 2021 that the launch was being postponed to the end of 2022, the company’s shares fell 15% in one day.
Photo: Sergei Elagin/Shutterstock
Author:
Ahmed Sadulayev
Source: RB
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