2023-06-18 09:00:00
Virgin Galactic’s first commercial spaceflight will take place on June 27. Things should go fast now.
After years of development, Virgin Galactic is finally ready to take its wealthy clients into space. The company has confirmed that its first commercial spaceflight, dubbed Galactic 01, will take off between June 27 and 30. This inaugural mission will take three people from the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council to conduct research in microgravity. Virgin had anticipated a launch at the end of June, but had not officially communicated on this date.
Virgin Galactic’s first commercial spaceflight will take place on June 27
The company already has other flights planned. Galactic 02 is due to take off at the beginning of August, with a private crew on board. Virgin will subsequently operate flights on a monthly basis, but details of future assignments are not yet available. The first two flights, at least, will be broadcast live on the company’s website.
Virgin had flown its last pre-market test flight, its fifth overall, at the end of May. The company had to deal with many postponements and incidents before getting to this point. SpaceShipTwo’s first test flights were successful in 2013, but the 2014 fatal accident of the VSS Enterprise put the entire project on hold. Test flights were only able to resume at the end of 2016, with VSS Unity. The company was finally able to reach space in 2018, but had to wait until 2021 to complete its first fully manned space flight, with its founder Richard Branson on board. Commercial service had been postponed several times for various reasons. The last time was to upgrade the VMS Eve mother vehicle that transports SpaceShipTwo vehicles to their launch altitude.
Things should go fast now
The beginning is very important for Virgin. Virgin has operated at a loss for years, losing more than $500 million in 2022 alone. The business department won’t recoup those investments very quickly, even at $450,000 a ticket, but it will give the company a important new source of income.
It’s also not the start of space tourism for Virgin in the sense that it still lags behind Blue Origin. That being said, Galactic 01 will allow Virgin to overtake SpaceX, as the company’s Starship rocket has yet to reach space and its first manned lunar flight is not scheduled for the end of 2024. as soon as possible. While Virgin’s ambitions are indeed lower than those of Elon Musk, the company is achieving its goals faster.
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