Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic
IATA ICAO Call sign
– VGX GALACTIC
Founded2004; 20 years ago (2004)
Operating bases
Fleet sizeDecrease 1 (mothership vehicle) (2024)
Destinations1 (Space)
Traded as
HeadquartersTustin, California, U.S
Key peopleMichael Colglazier (CEO)
Doug Ahrens (CFO)
Mike Moses (President – Safety)
FounderRichard Branson
RevenueDecrease US$2.31 million (2022)
Operating incomeDecrease US$−500 million (2022)
Net incomeDecrease US$−500 million (2022)
Total assetsIncrease US$1.14 billion (2022)
Total equityDecrease US$480 million (2022)
Employees1,166 (2022)
Websitevirgingalactic.com
Notes
Financials as of December 31, 2022.[1]
Part of a series on
Private spaceflight
Active companies
Active vehicles
Contracts and programs
Related

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. is a British-American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group conglomerate which retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited.[2] It is headquartered in California, and operates from New Mexico. The company develops commercial spacecraft and provides suborbital spaceflights to space tourists. Virgin Galactic's suborbital spacecraft are air launched from beneath a carrier airplane known as White Knight Two. Virgin Galactic's maiden spaceflight occurred in 2018 with its VSS Unity spaceship.[3] Branson had originally hoped to see a maiden spaceflight by 2010,[4] but the date was delayed, primarily due to the October 2014 crash of VSS Enterprise.

The company did the early work on the satellite launch development of LauncherOne before this was hived off to a separate company, Virgin Orbit, in 2017. The company also has aspirations for suborbital transport, to provide rocket-powered, point-to-point 3,000 mph (4,800 km/h) air travel.[5][6][7][8][9] The spin-off company, Virgin Orbit was shut down in May 2023.

On 13 December 2018, VSS Unity achieved the project's first suborbital space flight, VSS Unity VP-03, with two pilots, reaching an altitude of 82.7 kilometres (51.4 mi), and officially entering outer space by U.S. standards.[10][11] In February 2019, the project carried three people, including a passenger, on VSS Unity VF-01, with a member of the team floating within the cabin during a spaceflight that reached 89.9 kilometres (55.9 mi). On 11 July 2021, founder Richard Branson and three other employees rode on VSS Unity 22 as passengers, marking the first time a spaceflight company founder has travelled on his own ship into outer space.[12] In February 2022, Virgin Galactic announced that it was opening ticket sales to the public.[13] The price of a reservation was $450,000.[14] In June 2023, Virgin Galactic launched its first commercial space tourism flight called Galactic 01.[15][16] Galactic 07 in June 2024 was the final flight of Unity as the company shifted focus to its Delta class vehicles and a higher launch cadence.[17]

  1. ^ "Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. 2022 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 28 February 2023.
  2. ^ "Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. SEC Sch 13D". 10 November 2021.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference meet pilots was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbc1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "VP Mike Pence visits Virgin Galactic and Stratolaunch space ventures in Mojave". GeekWire. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  6. ^ "Richard Branson says he's 6 months from going to space – but Mars belongs to Elon Musk". Business Insider. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  7. ^ "Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic is almost ready to launch into outer space". 11 October 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  8. ^ "Virgin Galactic founder says spaceflights could be months away". KOB.com. 9 October 2017. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  9. ^ @virgingalactic (3 August 2020). "Virgin Galactic unveils Mach 3 vehicle design for high speed travel. This vehicle would have capacity for 9 to 19 people at an altitude above 60,000 feet" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. ^ "Branson's Virgin Galactic successfully reaches space". BBC. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  11. ^ "Virgin Galactic tourism rocket ship reaches space in test". San Jose Mercury News. Bay Area News Group. Associated Press. 4 December 2018. p. A4.
  12. ^ Betz, Eric (27 November 2023). "The Kármán Line: Where space begins". Astronomy Magazine. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  13. ^ Prang, Allison (15 February 2022). "You Can Now Sign Up to Go to Space With Virgin Galactic". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  14. ^ "Blue Origin to increase New Shepard launches in 2022". 18 February 2022.
  15. ^ Sheetz, Michael (15 June 2023). "Virgin Galactic sets first commercial space tourism flight for this month; shares spike more than 30%". CNBC. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  16. ^ Sheetz, Michael. "Virgin Galactic spaceflight live updates: First paying customers set for space in key step for tourism". CNBC. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  17. ^ Foust, Jeff (8 May 2024). "Virgin Galactic plans higher mothership flight rate with next-generation spaceplanes". SpaceNews. Retrieved 9 May 2024.