Global InformationVirgin Galactic information
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| Founded | 2004 | ||||||
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| Operating bases |
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| Fleet size |  3 (2021) | ||||||
| Destinations | 1 (Space) | ||||||
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| Headquarters | Tustin, California, U.S | ||||||
| Key people | Michael Colglazier (CEO) Doug Ahrens (CFO) Mike Moses (President – Safety) | ||||||
| Founder | Richard Branson | ||||||
| Revenue |  US$2.31 million (2022) | ||||||
| Operating income | US$−500 million (2022) | ||||||
| Net income | US$−500 million (2022) | ||||||
| Total assets | US$1.14 billion (2022) | ||||||
| Total equity | US$480 million (2022) | ||||||
| Employees | 1,166 (2022) | ||||||
| Website | virgingalactic.com | ||||||
| Notes | |||||||
Financials as of December 31, 2022[update].[1] | |||||||
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Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. is a British-American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group conglomerate which retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited.[2] It is headquartered in California, and operates from New Mexico. The company is developing commercial spacecraft and aims to provide suborbital spaceflights to space tourists. Virgin Galactic's suborbital spacecraft are air launched from beneath a carrier airplane known as White Knight Two. Virgin Galactic's maiden spaceflight occurred in 2018 with its VSS Unity spaceship.[3] Branson had originally hoped to see a maiden spaceflight by 2010,[4] but the date was delayed for several years, and then delayed again, primarily due to the October 2014 crash of VSS Enterprise.
The company did the early work on the satellite launch development of LauncherOne before this was hived off to a separate company, Virgin Orbit, in 2017. The company also has aspirations for suborbital transport and in 2017, Branson has said that Virgin Galactic was "in the best position in the world" to provide rocket-powered, point-to-point 3,000 mph (4,800 km/h) air travel.[5][6][7][8][9]
On 13 December 2018, VSS Unity achieved the project's first suborbital space flight, VSS Unity VP-03, with two pilots, reaching an altitude of 82.7 kilometres (51.4 mi), and officially entering outer space by U.S. standards.[10][11] In February 2019, the project carried three people, including a passenger, on VSS Unity VF-01, with a member of the team floating within the cabin during a spaceflight that reached 89.9 kilometres (55.9 mi). On 11 July 2021, the company founder Richard Branson and three other employees rode on a flight as passengers, marking the first time a spaceflight company founder has travelled on his own ship into outer space (according to the NASA definition of outer space beginning at 50 miles above the Earth, however the international community regards outer space beginning approximately 62 miles above the earth at what is referred to as the Kármán line[12]).
In February 2022, Virgin Galactic announced that it was opening ticket sales to the public.[13] The price of a reservation is $450,000.[13] The company had sold tickets before February 2022 to clients that had paid deposits earlier or otherwise "were on a list"; as of November 2021, the company had about 700 customers (tickets sold). The company aims to have about three launches per month sometime in 2023.[14] A spin-off company, Virgin Orbit, used the same launch approach to achieve orbital launch, but was shut down in May 2023. In June 2023, the company announced it would launch the first commercial space tourism flight called Galactic 01 later in the month. This came after completing its final test flight in May.[15][16] On 29 June 2023, Virgin Galactic launched its first commercial space flight successfully.
- ^ "Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. 2022 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 28 February 2023.
- ^ "Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. SEC Sch 13D". 10 November 2021.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
meet pilotswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
bbc1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "VP Mike Pence visits Virgin Galactic and Stratolaunch space ventures in Mojave". GeekWire. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
- ^ "Richard Branson says he's 6 months from going to space – but Mars belongs to Elon Musk". Business Insider. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
- ^ "Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic is almost ready to launch into outer space". 11 October 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
- ^ "Virgin Galactic founder says spaceflights could be months away". KOB.com. 9 October 2017. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
- ^ @virgingalactic (3 August 2020). "Virgin Galactic unveils Mach 3 vehicle design for high speed travel. This vehicle would have capacity for 9 to 19 people at an altitude above 60,000 feet" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Branson's Virgin Galactic successfully reaches space". BBC. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
- ^ "Virgin Galactic tourism rocket ship reaches space in test". San Jose Mercury News. Bay Area News Group. Associated Press. 4 December 2018. p. A4.
- ^ Betz, Eric (27 November 2023). "The Kármán Line: Where space begins". Astronomy Magazine. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
- ^ a b Prang, Allison (15 February 2022). "You Can Now Sign Up to Go to Space With Virgin Galactic". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
- ^ "Blue Origin to increase New Shepard launches in 2022". 18 February 2022.
- ^ Sheetz, Michael (15 June 2023). "Virgin Galactic sets first commercial space tourism flight for this month; shares spike more than 30%". CNBC. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
- ^ Sheetz, Michael. "Virgin Galactic spaceflight live updates: First paying customers set for space in key step for tourism". CNBC. Retrieved 29 June 2023.