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After years of development, Virgin Galactic is finally ready to take on paying customers. The company has confirmed that its first commercial space flight, Galactic 01, will launch between June 27 and June 30. This inaugural mission will carry three people from the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council as they conduct microgravity research. Virgin had anticipated a late June launch, but had not yet committed to that window.
The company already has follow-up flights scheduled. Galactic 02 is expected to launch in early August and will carry a private crew. Virgin will subsequently fly on a monthly basis, although details of future missions are not yet available. At least the first two flights will be live streamed through the company’s website.
In late May Virgin conducted its final pre-commercial flight test, its fifth spacecraft of any type. However, the company faced several delays and incidents in reaching that point. The company completed its first SpaceShipTwo test flights in 2013, but halted its efforts in 2014 following the fatal crash of the VSS Enterprise. Flight testing did not resume until glide testing of the VSS Unity in late 2016. The firm finally reached space in 2018, but had to wait until 2021 to complete its first fully crewed spaceflight with founder Richard Branson. It pushed back commercial service several times due to varying factors, most recently delays in upgrading the VMS Eve “mothership” that carries the SpaceShipTwo vehicles to their launch altitudes.
The debut is important for Virgin’s business. Virgin has operated at a loss for years, with a loss of more than $500 million in 2022 alone. Commercial service won’t quickly make those investments back even at $450,000 per ticket, but it will give the company a significant source of revenue.
This isn’t the start of space tourism for Virgin. In this sense, it is still behind Blue Origin. However, Galactic 01 will put Virgin ahead of SpaceX, as the company’s Starship rocket has not yet reached space and is not expected to launch its first lunar tourist flights until late 2024 at the earliest. While Virgin is less ambitious than Elon Musk’s operation, it is achieving its goals sooner.
