SpaceShip III

SpaceShip III
TypeSpaceplane
ManufacturerVirgin Galactic
History
FateCancelled

SpaceShip III (SS3, also with Roman numeral: SSIII; formerly SpaceShipThree) was an upcoming class of spaceplanes by Virgin Galactic to follow SpaceShipTwo. It was first teased on the Virgin Galactic Twitter account on 25 February 2021 announcing the rollout of the first SpaceShip III plane on 30 March 2021.[1]

By June 2024, development of the two SpaceShip III vehicles, VSS Imagine and VSS Inspire was canceled, with the intention of using the vehicles for ground testing and development for the successor Delta-class spacecraft.[2] So in the end, no SpaceShip III vehicles were completed or flown (not flown in any way, i.e. no captive carry flight, no glide flight, no powered flight nor any other type of flight).

  1. ^ Virgin Galactic [@VirginGalactic] (February 25, 2021). "The Future of the Fleet. Rollout, March 30th" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ Sheetz, Michael (13 June 2024). "Investing in Space: Virgin Galactic enters spaceflight hiatus after retiring Unity". CNBC.