Virgin Galactic Takes Bold Steps Following Successful Flight

Virgin Galactic, a British-American spaceflight company, accomplished its inaugural crewed suborbital flight recently. The company’s founder, Sir Richard Branson, along with his crew, embarked on a journey to low orbit aboard the VSS Unity, achieving speeds three times faster than sound. Subsequently, the vessel safely returned to Earth, with the crew unharmed. This launch marks Virgin Galactic as the first private spaceflight company to succeed ahead of competitors like SpaceX and Blue Origin, positioning itself for further success.

Following the flight, Virgin Galactic promptly announced a plan to issue an additional $500 million in common stock. Typically, after such a significant stock release, the company’s value experienced a slight decline of about 8%. Nonetheless, analysts anticipate a potential upsurge to compensate for this temporary setback.

Analyst Douglas Harned from AB Bernstein remarked to clients, “We view this as a crucial step toward commencing passenger flights, which we anticipate will start in early 2022.”

“The flight holds symbolic significance for instilling consumer trust and interest in space tourism,” noted Harned. “An upcoming successful test flight by Blue Origin, featuring founder Jeff Bezos scheduled for July 20, is expected to further stimulate industry interest, benefiting both companies.”

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson and the #Unity22 crew soared more than 50 miles above the New Mexico desert in the vehicle’s first fully crewed test flight to space https://t.co/YbFUbNvkLK pic.twitter.com/r9JWngUCtx

— Reuters (@Reuters) July 12, 2021

Virgin Galactic has already secured over 600 ticket reservations for commercial suborbital flights on its vessels, with prices ranging between $200,000 and $250,000. Analysts predict that as the reservations are fulfilled and regular passenger ticket sales commence, prices could escalate to the range of $400,000 to $500,000.

The next significant manned spaceflight will be Jeff Bezos’ journey aboard a Blue Origin vessel, slated for July 20. Initially scheduled after Bezos’ trip, Virgin Galactic expedited their plans to claim the first position.