{"id":17370,"date":"2022-07-06T23:01:58","date_gmt":"2022-07-06T15:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/virgin-galactic-announces-deal-with-boeing-subsidiary-to-build-next-gen-motherships\/"},"modified":"2022-07-06T23:01:58","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T15:01:58","slug":"virgin-galactic-announces-deal-with-boeing-subsidiary-to-build-next-gen-motherships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/virgin-galactic-announces-deal-with-boeing-subsidiary-to-build-next-gen-motherships\/","title":{"rendered":"Virgin Galactic announces deal with Boeing subsidiary to build next-gen motherships"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/220706-mothership-630x396.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-708509\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/220706-mothership-630x396.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/220706-mothership-768x483.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/220706-mothership.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption>An artist\u2019s conception shows a Virgin Galactic mothership in flight. (Virgin Galactic Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Virgin Galactic says it will partner with Aurora Flight Sciences, a Virginia-based Boeing subsidiary, to design and build next-generation motherships for its suborbital rocket planes.<\/p>\n<p>The motherships will serve as flying launch pads for Virgin Galactic\u2019s next-gen, Delta-class spacecraft, just as a carrier airplane called White Knight Two or VMS Eve has served for the company\u2019s SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity rocket plane.<\/p>\n<p>The system\u2019s design is an upgraded version of the SpaceShipOne system that was funded almost two decades ago by Paul Allen, the late Microsoft co-founder, and won the $10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004.<\/p>\n<p>VSS Unity and VMS Eve have been undergoing test flights for years, and commercial suborbital space missions are scheduled to begin next year at Spaceport America in New Mexico. Hundreds of customers have reserved spots on future flights.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Virgin Galactic Spaceflight System\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hRuYGayEFCM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The next-generation mothership and rocket plane are due to start revenue-generating missions in 2025. The partnership announced today will cover the production of two motherships. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur next-generation motherships are integral to scaling our operations. They will be faster to produce, easier to maintain and will allow us to fly substantially more missions each year,\u201d Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said in a news release. \u201cSupported by the scale and strength of Boeing, Aurora is the ideal manufacturing partner for us as we build our fleet to support 400 flights per year at Spaceport America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Boeing acquired Aurora in 2017 to beef up its capabilities on the frontiers of aerospace innovation. Aurora plans to manufacture Virgin Galactic\u2019s motherships at its facilities in Mississippi and West Virginia, with final assembly to be completed at Virgin Galactic\u2019s facility in Mojave, Calif.<\/p>\n<p>Boeing has already been working with Virgin Galactic on a supersonic airplane concept, and invested $20 million in Virgin Galactic just as the company was going public in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday\u2019s announcement expands our collaboration with Virgin Galactic to accelerate transformative aerospace technologies,\u201d said Todd Citron, Boeing\u2019s chief technology officer and vice president and general manager of Boeing Research &amp; Technology.<\/p>\n<p>Per Beith, Aurora\u2019s president and CEO, said \u201cwe\u2019re thrilled to have this opportunity to support Virgin Galactic\u2019s mission to pioneer space travel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows a Virgin Galactic mothership in flight. (Virgin Galactic Illustration) Virgin Galactic says it will partner with Aurora Flight Sciences, a Virginia-based Boeing subsidiary, to design and build next-generation motherships for its suborbital rocket planes. The motherships will serve as flying launch pads for Virgin Galactic\u2019s next-gen, Delta-class spacecraft, just as a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[670,4402,492],"class_list":["post-17370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-boeing","tag-suborbital-spaceflight","tag-virgin-galactic"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17370"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17370\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}