![]() ![]() Keisha Schahaff will be bringing her 18-year-old daughter with her on Virgin Galactic's flight.Īsked about the recent OceanGate Expeditions submersible trip to the Titanic, Schahaff told this had not made her nervous about the trip and that she is "completely elated" about the upcoming flight. Mother and daughter duo Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers posing ahead of their flight on Virgin Galactic's first private space tourist flight. I would say the time is coming where they really do need to deliver on that," Caleb Henry, director of research at space advisory firm Quilty Analytics, told Fortune. "He's been very patient with trying to see this company through to success. These flights are more profitable than passenger flights, producing roughly $600,000 in revenue per seat, SpaceNews reported. It could bolster its profits by angling for more research flights, like the Galactic 01 flight launched last quarter in partnership with the Italian government. The company has been pouring money into research efforts for other aircraft, like its Delta-class spaceship, CNBC reported. But in June, Branson's company announced that the price for aspiring astronauts would raise to $ 450,000 per seat.īecause of the astronomical costs of running a space flight operation, this doesn't cut it. Of the 800 tickets sold thus far, three quarters have gone for about $250,000. Despite that, the company is launching its second commercial flight today.īut it's not making as much money as it could from this launch, which may be some of the reasons Virgin Galactic is barely breaking even. The next two quarters are expected to be equally slim, with the company announcing projected revenues of $1 million each. View of Sierra Nevadas from Virgin Galactic.įor its second quarter this year, Virgin Galactic posted a net loss of $134.4 million, compared to a $110.7 million loss in the same period last year, CNBC reported. ![]() The success of Galactic 01 earlier this year and today's successful mission may be a sign that tides are turning for the company. That represented some $400 million dollars of cash lost, Fortune reported. The company was eventually cleared, but took the rest of 2022 to update its spacecraft and fight off legal battles. Because the flight deviated from the planned path, Virgin was put under investigation by the US Federal Aviation Administration. visit - but that wasn't the end of Virgin Galactic's troubles. That flight garnered a lot of publicity - from Stephen Colbert hosting the livestream to Elon Musk paying Branson a 2:30 a.m. He narrowly beat Jeff Bezos to the edge of space. Then the company launched its billionaire founder, Richard Branson, in 2021. Pilots flew it to the edge of space and back three times to test it. The next iteration of the space plane, called the VSS Unity, which flew today, has only had successful flights. Then in 2014, an untimely unlocking of the craft's feathering system caused it to break apart mid-flight, killing one pilot and seriously injuring another. In 2007, three contractors were killed during an engine test. The company's history is paved with these kinds of pock marks, from fatalities during early testing, to a bevy of red tape problems. Now, 19 years later, we've just witnessed its second commercial flight. When Virgin Galactic was founded in 2004, it aimed to send its first passengers into space by 2008. Virgin Galactic ship screaming toward the edge of space. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |