Virgin Galactic Delays Commercial Spaceflight Take Off
Many people are watching to see what happens with Virgin Galactic over the short term and the long term. The company has been around for over a decade now and is one that has been noting the wonders of spaceflight over the past decade or so.
The firm has also stated that it will charge a premium for its space experience. The cost to fly with Virgin Galactic? Over $400,000 per ticket. It is starting simple and straightforward with its pricing before it moves on to having more tiers, pricing for groups, and other packages.
It also notes that when it initiates microgravity research flights, it will charge even more for those specific people and related institutional representatives that will be on board.
But still Virgin Galactic is finding that spaceflight is far from easy and that quite a few elements can go wrong. It is pushing its next commercial flight out another year.
Due to this recent delay, Virgin Galactic’s shares have fell a bit further. This is troubling for the firm as it must stay in certain deadlines to ensure that it can start to obtain the cash it needs to continue to act as a business.
The reason why the stock dropped over 15% is because Virgin Galactic has noted that it will delay its commercial spaceflights to the last quarter of 2022. This is big deal as firms such as SpaceX and Blue Origin are finding more ways to establish themselves as leaders within this segment of industry.
One Step Forward Another Step Back?
Virgin Galactic noted that it was clear to begin its flights in September. The FAA looked into the the firm’s Unity 22 test flight in the summer of 2021. The firm noted that Unity 23 would focus to initiate a flight in the middle of October.
But the mission is delayed.
Now, why is the mission with individuals from the Italian Air Force cancelled? The firm seeks to ensure that it enhances its VSS Unity before space vehicle and the VMS Eve air vehicle before this mission.
The firm noted that it has seen some potential issues that would affect the robustness of certain components within the air vehicle.
“While this new lab test data has had no impact on the vehicles, our test flight protocols have clearly defined strength margins, and further analysis will assess whether any additional work is required to keep them at or above established levels,” Virgin Galactic noted. “Given the time required for this effort, the Company has determined the most efficient and expedient path to commercial service is to complete this work now in parallel with the planned enhancement program.”
Virgin Galactic CEO Comments on the Delay
The CEO noted that the firm would continue to take decisions after taking in all of the necessary data and conducting the right level of analysis on that data. The firm states it will only fly after it combs through the data present and ensures that it can have the right margins for safety.
Remember that Virgin Galactic would rather be safe than sorry when it comes to air travel. It seeks to mitigate potential problems that may occur and increase its overall margin of safety during flights. The CEO, Colglazier noted in a statement recently.