Enlarge / Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity rocket airplane ignites its rocket motor moments after launch from a jet-powered service plane excessive above New Mexico. (credit score: Virgin Galactic)
Final 12 months, Virgin Galactic appeared to lastly be hitting a stride towards making industrial suborbital spaceflight. The corporate flew its SpaceShipTwo rocket airplane to the sting of house six occasions in six months, giving a couple of Virgin Galactic clients a style of spaceflight after ready greater than a decade.
Lastly, it appeared that Virgin Galactic turned a nook, transferring previous the setbacks and course corrections that delayed founder Sir Richard Branson’s purpose of bringing spaceflight to a wider inhabitants. Virgin Galactic officers would not describe the corporate’s subsequent step as a setback or a course correction. It is a part of an intentional enterprise technique to make Branson’s dream a actuality.
“That dream behind Virgin Galactic got here into sharp focus as we repeatedly flew spaceship Unity in 2023,” stated Michael Colglazier, Virgin Galactic’s president and CEO, in a quarterly earnings name this week. “Now, in 2024, we’re poised for much more significant accomplishments as we construct the fleet of spaceships that may flip the dream into actuality and long-term success.”
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