{"id":17786,"date":"2020-02-25T19:08:44","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T11:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/virgin-galactic-resumes-taking-deposits-for-spaceshiptwo-suborbital-trips\/"},"modified":"2020-02-25T19:08:44","modified_gmt":"2020-02-25T11:08:44","slug":"virgin-galactic-resumes-taking-deposits-for-spaceshiptwo-suborbital-trips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/virgin-galactic-resumes-taking-deposits-for-spaceshiptwo-suborbital-trips\/","title":{"rendered":"Virgin Galactic resumes taking deposits for SpaceShipTwo suborbital trips"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_549497\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-549497\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-549497\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/200225-vg2-630x357.jpg\" alt=\"SpaceShipTwo at Spaceport America\" width=\"630\" height=\"357\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/200225-vg2-630x357.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/200225-vg2-768x435.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/200225-vg2.jpg 1244w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-549497\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Virgin Galactic\u2019s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane and its WhiteKnightTwo mothership arrive at Spaceport America in New Mexico. (Virgin Galactic via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Virgin Galactic says it\u2019s letting customers pay $1,000 refundable deposits toward suborbital trips on its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, resuming spaceflight sales after a hiatus of more than a year.<\/p>\n<p>In a news release, Virgin Galactic reported that 7,957 people have signed up on its website to register interest in such trips. Starting Wednesday, all those people will be able to put their money where their interest is.<\/p>\n<p>The company hasn\u2019t yet set the price or the timetable for newly reserved trips under its \u201cOne Small Step\u201d program. But based on past statements, the eventual price tag will be more than the $250,000 that Virgin Galactic was charging before it suspended ticket sales in December 2018.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s when Virgin Galactic\u2019s only operating SpaceShipTwo craft, dubbed VSS Unity, made its first piloted flight past the 50-mile space milestone at California\u2019s Mojave Air and Space Port. Ticket sales were held up to give the company a chance to test the market and prepare for commercial operations at Spaceport America in New Mexico. At the time that sales were suspended, more than 600 customers from 60 countries held reservations for the first wave of passenger flights. Those customers could start flying later this year.<\/p>\n<p>Since December, VSS Unity has gone through a second test flight in Mojave \u2014 and Virgin Galactic, which was founded by British billionaire Richard Branson 15 years ago, has gone through the transition to a publicly traded company. Just last month, Virgin Galactic\u2019s second SpaceShipTwo craft achieved its \u201cWeight on Wheels\u201d manufacturing milestone. And this month, VSS Unity and its WhiteKnightTwo mothership, VMS Eve, were flown to Spaceport America to take up residence.<\/p>\n<p>Today, Virgin Galactic reported a net fourth-quarter loss of $73 million, with revenue amounting to $529,000. <span class=\"css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-vw2c0b r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0\">Virgin Galactic\u2019s chief financial officer, <\/span><span class=\"css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0\">Jonathan Campagna, said the company\u2019s revenue came primarily from flying research payloads and providing engineering services.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The loss was larger than expected \u2014 but it wasn\u2019t that much of a surprise, considering that Virgin Galactic isn\u2019t flying passengers yet. At the close of the trading day, the company\u2019s share price dipped to $34.04, representing a decline of less than a percentage point on one of the worst days of the year for the broader market.<\/p>\n<p>The price fell further in after-hours trading, but was still almost triple what it was on Virgin Galactic\u2019s first day of public trading.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Elevating Unity - Episode 6: VSS Unity Relocates to Spaceport America\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-ejJhCZqBo8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides played down the loss and played up the eventual upside in today\u2019s earnings report.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe progress we made in 2019, combined with the high level of interest from potential customers, underpin the steps we are taking toward reopening ticket sales,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are continuing to build on our strong momentum as we enter the most exciting chapter of our story to date and prepare for commercial launch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Branson has said he intends to take a seat on the first commercial trip this year, but it\u2019s not clear exactly how seats on the six-passenger VSS Unity will be doled out after that first VIP trip. Some customers have been holding reservations for 15 years or so, while others are high-profile influencers \u2014 reportedly including actor Ashton Kutcher and singer Justin Bieber.<\/p>\n<p>Virgin Galactic made clear that those currently holding firm seat reservations would get first crack at flying. When new seats are released, those who have put down the One Small Step deposit of $1,000 will be offered the chance to \u201cmake the One Giant Leap to a confirmed spaceflight reservation,\u201d the company said. That presumably will involve one giant withdrawal from the deposit-holder\u2019s bank account.<\/p>\n<p>Stephen Attenborough, Virgin Galactic\u2019s commercial director, said he\u2019s been \u201cgreatly encouraged\u201d by the demand for personal spaceflight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne Small Step allows us to help qualify and build confidence in our direct sales pipeline, as well as to ensure that those who are most keen to make reservations, are able to do so at the earliest opportunity,\u201d he said in today\u2019s news release.<\/p>\n<p>Looking further ahead, Whitesides told industry analysts during a teleconference that suborbital research missions and&nbsp;international spaceflight operations, plus the creation of the U.S. Space Force, could add to the market opportunities for Virgin Galactic\u2019s launch system.<\/p>\n<p>He said Boeing\u2019s $20 million investment in Virgin Galactic, announced last year, is part of a partnership focused on developing new vehicles serving the high-speed mobility market. One potential project involves developing a high-speed aerial vehicle that could serve as a test bed for defense applications, he said. That suggests that Virgin Galactic could join Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Stratolaunch and other aerospace companies in the market for hypersonic flight systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Virgin Galactic\u2019s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane and its WhiteKnightTwo mothership arrive at Spaceport America in New Mexico. (Virgin Galactic via YouTube) Virgin Galactic says it\u2019s letting customers pay $1,000 refundable deposits toward suborbital trips on its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, resuming spaceflight sales after a hiatus of more than a year. In a news release, Virgin Galactic [&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":[493,1973,492,1600],"class_list":["post-17786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-space-tourism","tag-spaceshiptwo","tag-virgin-galactic","tag-vss-unity"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17786"}],"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=17786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}