Tag: Virgin Galactic
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Virgin Galactic Shows New Ship as Cash Runs Below $200M
Can Virgin Galactic survive its cash crunch despite new Delta-class vehicle? Virgin Galactic revealed its next-generation Delta-class spaceship Thursday, but the suborbital tourism company faces critical financial constraints with less than $200 million in cash and a quarterly burn rate approaching $50 million. The new vehicle, photographed being towed from the company’s Mesa, Arizona facility,…
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Virgin Galactic reveals new ship, but it’s running out of time and cash
On Thursday, the publicly traded spaceflight company Virgin Galactic shared on social media a new photo of its next-generation spaceship being towed outside of its factory in Mesa, Arizona. You remember Virgin Galactic, right? The space tourism company was founded 22 years ago by Sir Richard Branson to bring spaceflight to the masses. Hundreds of…
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Virgin Galactic Maintains 2026 Spaceflight Timeline as Financial Pressures Persist
Virgin Galactic Holdings said it remains on track to bring its next-generation SpaceShip program into operation in 2026, with flight tests planned for the third quarter and a first commercial flight expected in the fourth quarter of that year. Chief Executive Michael Colglazier said the schedule is “stable,” noting that supply-chain constraints have been resolved…
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Virgin Galactic has ceased flying its only space plane. Now what?
On Saturday, the VSS Unity space plane made its final flight, carrying four passengers to an altitude of 54.4 miles (87.5 km) above the New Mexico desert. The spacecraft will now be retired after just seven commercial space flights, all made within the last year. Although the flight was characterized by its chief executive Michael…
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For Virgin Galactic, becoming profitable means a pause in flying to space
Last year, Virgin Galactic seemed to finally be hitting a stride toward making commercial suborbital spaceflight. The company flew its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane to the edge of space six times in six months, giving a few Virgin Galactic customers a taste of spaceflight after waiting more than a decade. Finally, it appeared that Virgin Galactic…
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Virgin Galactic and the FAA are investigating a dropped pin on last spaceflight
Virgin Galactic reported an anomaly on its most recent flight, Galactic 06, which took place 12 days ago from a spaceport in New Mexico. In a statement released Monday, the company said it discovered a dropped pin during a post-flight review of the mission, which carried two pilots and four passengers to an altitude of…
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Launch Roundup: Northrop Grumman prepare the first Cygnus to fly on Falcon 9
Recent challenges with weather concerns and the movement of key flights such as USSF-52 and Axiom-3 have impacted Falcon 9 launch dates, not least Starlink Group 7-11 which scrubbed three times and finally launched on Tuesday, albeit with problems on the launch livestream. SpaceX had two drone ships and the two fairing recovery ships in…
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No further investments in Virgin Galactic, says Richard Branson
Sir Richard Branson has ruled out putting more money into his lossmaking space travel company Virgin Galactic, saying his business empire “does not have the deepest pockets” any more. Virgin Galactic, which was founded by Branson in 2004, last month announced it was cutting jobs and suspending commercial flights for 18 months from next year,…
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From Countdown to Touchdown: Flying Aboard Virgin Galactic
For only the second time, VSS Unity, Virgin Galactic’s suborbital space plane, was transformed into a science laboratory. Galactic 05 successfully completed its mission on Nov. 2, but for Kellie Gerardi, Galactic 05 crewmember and Virgin Galactic Astronaut 021, the training and preparation for the flight goes back almost a decade. She sat down with…
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Rocket Report: Tough times for Astra and Virgin; SpaceX upgrading launch pad
Welcome to Edition 6.19 of the Rocket Report! While we wait for SpaceX to launch the second full-scale test flight of Starship, a lot of the news this week involved companies with much smaller rockets. Astra is struggling to find enough funding to remain in business, and Virgin Galactic says it will fly its suborbital…