Galactic 06 passengers float in suborbit in January. The company announced at the end of February that it expects to launch another flight in the second quarter of 2024.
Galactic 06 passengers float in suborbit in January. The company announced at the end of February that it expects to launch another flight in the second quarter of 2024.
Virgin Galactic officials expect to get at least one more flight to suborbit off the ground this year from Spaceport America, despite a hardware incident following its sixth commercial launch in January.
Company officials last week in an earnings call said they expect to fly the mothership VMS Eve and the VSS Unity spaceship in the second quarter of this year. The company’s last commercial flight — the first time it has featured four paying passengers — experienced an issue when an alignment pin detached from the launch pylon of VMS Eve. The company reported the issue to the Federal Aviation Administration.
“We’ve done a fair bit of testing on the ground and that’s actually really allowed us to close out most of the actions in the investigation, and we could re-create the circumstances where that pin came free and kind of narrow down the conditions that could have caused that,” said Mike Moses, president of spaceline operations at Virgin Galactic. “We don’t anticipate any impact on ‘Galactic 07’ at all for quarter two, and the investigation has been going really well with the FAA in partnership.”
The company, which also discussed its earnings for the full year and its plans for its next generation of Delta ships that will take more frequent trips to suborbit, didn’t disclose when the flight window is for its next flight, though it typically announces one in the weeks leading up to launch.
Galactic 07, as the company calls it, will also include four paying passengers — the second such flight from the company founded by Richard Branson to do so. Virgin Galactic’s seventh spaceflight will include a mix of private passengers and researchers.
Earnings for Virgin Galactic shot up in 2023, the first year it brought commercial spaceflight to paying customers. For the full year, the company recorded $7 million in revenue, and in the fourth quarter marked $3 million, primarily due to the five commercial flights to space and membership fees from future passengers.
But revenue will also increase soon, as Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic, said flight revenue from Galactic 07 will “exceed an average of $800,000 per seat,” adding that new sales aren’t planned to open until the launch of the new Delta fleet. He said going forward, the entry price point has moved from $450,000 to $600,000 for a trip to suborbit.
“We believe these prices continue to reflect outstanding value for the products and lifetime experience we are delivering,” he said. “We believe there is a large and robust addressable market at these price points.”
