If you are one of the lucky few who paid $450,000 to fly into space with Virgin GalaxyI regret to inform you that you will have to keep waiting. This was announced by the company of Richard Branson. again postponed the start of its commercial activitieswhich was scheduled for the end of 2022.
As announced by the firm in its latest earnings report, Virgin Galactic’s first tourist flights will take place from the second quarter of 2023. Cause? Delays in the conversion program for the VMS Eve aircraft, which is used to launch the VSS Unity spacecraft traveling to the edge of space.
So the company, which competes with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, continues to push the start of its full commercial operation. In any case, this is not something that is too surprising. Moreover, Virgin Galactic has already experienced delays in other flights.
Mission Block 23, intended for the investigation of the Italian Air Force, was supposed to take place between September and October 2021, but was postponed until this year and has not yet been held. After this flight, it was planned to conduct a test run with Unity 24, and only with Unity 25 open the game for passengers who paid large sums of money.
August 2022 is already underway, and with a program that still has a long way to go, it’s not unreasonable to think that the new goal of tourist space travel from the second quarter of 2023 keep being too ambitious. In any case, the company seems to be convinced that it will be able to fulfill it.
Virgin Galactic has not yet been able to launch its program of tourist flights into space
Although Michael Colglaser, CEO of Virgin Galactic, cited the new delay in commercial spaceflight, he was careful not to overshadow the company’s long-term plans:
“As we prepare to return to the skies, we have implemented many powerful initiatives that will lead to our long-term success. Our agreement with Aurora to develop new motherships, choosing Phoenix as the location for our new spacecraft manufacturing facility, and acquiring an incredible piece of land in New Mexico for our Future Astronaut Campus they are fundamental elements of how we will build and operate our global space line. While our short-term plans now include a commercial service launch in the second quarter of 2023, work continues on our future fleet and many of the key elements of our roadmap are in place for significant business scaling.”
Michael Colglaser, CEO of Virgin Galactic
The points mentioned by the manager are valid, but you should see how they correspond to customers and shareholders. The new base ships will be produced by Aurora, a subsidiary of Boeing. they won’t fly until at least 2025. And everything will also depend on how the development of new Delta-class suborbital ships that will replace the current VSS Unity and the not yet released VSS Imagine, which will debut in the same year, goes.
Virgin Galactic has already stated in advance that it expects positive cash flow only in 2026. However, the figures he has presented in recent years should not be taken lightly. It made just $3.5 million between 2020 and 2021 against losses that reached $1,000 million. Meanwhile, in the second quarter of 2022 lost another $111 millionand the company plans to place $300 million worth of shares.
But, as we said at the beginning, patience. If you are one of those who have already spent exorbitant amounts of money to secure a seat on Virgin Galactic flights, you have no choice but to wait. If you’re lucky, you can fly with a certain Elon Musk.
Source: Hiper Textual
