Virgin Galactic Shares Soar 42% As First Commercial Flight Nears

Not all of Richard Branson’s space ventures are bankrupt. The billionaire’s Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. said the “start of commercial spaceline operations” would begin as soon as June 27. 

The first commercial spaceflight, “Galactic 01,” has a launch window between June 27-30. The VSS Unity spacecraft will carry three crew members from the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council of Italy to conduct microgravity research. 

Prior flights have shown VSS Unity is attached to a carrier aircraft called VMS Eve. Once the carrier aircraft reaches 44,000 feet, the spacecraft will detach, fire its rockets and accelerate more than three times the speed of sound to the edge of space, where it conducts a slow backflip in microgravity. 

Here’s a launch from May 2022. 

60 seconds of rocket burn, straight into space. #UNITY21 #VirginGalactic pic.twitter.com/yc87hWRLxc

— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) May 22, 2021

Virgin Galactic Holdings has sold hundreds of reservations for tickets on future flights. The prices range around a quarter million dollars per seat. 

The company has said the second commercial spaceflight, “Galactic 02,” will follow in early August, with monthly spaceflights after that. 

Virgin Galactic shares jumped as much as 42% in premarket trading in New York. 

Meanwhile, Virgin Orbit, a satellite launch startup founded by Branson, filed for bankruptcy protection in the US earlier this year. This proves not all space ventures will be successful.