LAS CRUCES, N.M. May 22, 2021 (Virgin Galactic PR) — Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) (“The Company or Virgin Galactic”) today completed its third spaceflight and the first ever spaceflight from Spaceport America, New Mexico. Today’s flight sees New Mexico become the third US state to launch humans into space.

VSS Unity achieved a speed of Mach 3 after being released from the mothership, VMS Eve, and reached space, at an altitude of 55.45 miles before gliding smoothly to a runway landing at Spaceport America.

Flight test, delayed from February, postponed again due to problem discovered on WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft. Company will update schedule next week.

LAS CRUCES, N.M., May 10, 2021 (Virgin Galactic PR) – Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) (“Virgin Galactic” or the “Company”), a vertically integrated aerospace and space travel company, today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021.

“We continue to make strides towards our strategic objectives and have solid momentum as we focus on completing our flight test program,” said Michael Colglazier, Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Galactic. “We are committed to delivering one of the world’s most unique and transformational customer experiences, with safety at the core of everything we do. Our greatest asset is our incredibly talented group of employees, and the strength of the leadership team we have assembled for the next phase of our journey.”

Richard Branson’s space tourism company used similar numbers to go public on the New York Stock Exchange. Were investors duped?

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Nicholas Schmidle’s book about Virgin Galactic and SpaceShipTwo is coming out on Tuesday. In an essay he wrote for The New York Times, he recounted how Virgin Galactic President Michael Moses didn’t believe the company’s own flight projections when they were presented to him by its then-chief financial officer.

At one point, I was leaked a cache of internal documents. Some revealed the depth of Virgin Galactic’s oftentimes shaky grip on reality.

In 2013, Mike Moses, at the time Virgin Galactic’s senior vice president for operations, was sent an email containing a chart from Virgin Galactic’s chief financial officer at the time, Ken Sunshine. The chart showed a radical uptick in flight operations, projecting 75 flights in 2015, 194 in 2016, 229 in 2017 and 264 in 2018. “No chance in hell,” replied Mr. Moses, who is Beth’s husband. “These numbers are a pipe dream.” (Mr. Moses, through a representative, declined to comment on those emails.)

• Rollout of Second Spaceship Scheduled to Take Place on March 30
• Announced Expected Timing of Revenue-Generating Flight with the Italian Air Force
• Next Rocket-Powered Spaceflight Targeted to Occur in May

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (Virgin Galactic PR) — Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) (“Virgin Galactic” or the “Company”), a vertically integrated aerospace and space travel company, today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2020.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Shares of Virgin Galactic plunged sharply on Thursday as the company announced that it was postponing the start of commercial suborbital space tourism flights until 2022 due to additional delays in completing SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity‘s test program.

Shares plunged in after hours trading to $36.69 after opening the day at $45.04. Most of the decline occurred in after hours trading following the release of Virgin Galactic quarterly and full year 2020 earning report.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

During the SmallSat Symposium last week, Richard Branson was asked why Virgin Galactic had gone public using a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

“I’m impatient. The SPAC gets through all of the rigmarole of public companies. Yes, I thought, that’s great, let’s do it,” he replied.

Branson was half right. A SPAC makes it a lot easier for a company to go public. But, impatience was probably not the main reason Virgin Galactic went SPAC.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Suborbital launch used to be a sleepy field that rarely attracted much public attention. Let’s face it, atmospheric research and student experiments are not front-page news. Sounding rockets don’t have the majesty and power of a Falcon 9 or Atlas V.

In recent years, exciting new entrants in the field and widespread streaming of launches have made suborbital flights exciting. Last year saw important suborbital flight tests by SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and Skyrora that garnered worldwide interest.

After an aborted suborbital flight in December and one two years ago that nearly destroyed the ship and killed the three-member crew,* Virgin Galactic will try to put its four-passenger rocket plane into space for a third time later this month from Spaceport America in New Mexico. The flight window will open on February 13 with additional day for the rest of the month. It will carry two pilots and […]

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Newly arrived back on Earth after a quick visit to space, Virgin Galactic Chief Astronaut Beth Moses was effusive as she described the suborbital flight she had just taken aboard the company’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, VSS Unity.

“Richard, you’re going to love it!” she told Virgin Chairman Richard Branson, who had remotely monitored the Feb. 22, 2019 flight that had taken place over California’s Mojave Desert.

Tuesday, February 2 Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 2.1bPayload: Lotus S-1 signal intelligence satelliteLaunch Time: 3:45 a.m. EST (2045 UTC)Launch Site: Plesetsk Cosmodrome NET Tuesday, February 2 Launch Vehicle: SpaceX Starship SN9Mission: Flight TestLaunch Time: TBDLaunch Site: Boca Chica, Texas Flight date depends upon completion of review and the issuing of a launch license by Federal Aviation Administration. Wednesday, February 3 Launch Vehicle: Falcon 9Payloads: 60 Starlink broadband satellitesLaunch Time: 5:57 a.m. […]