The space company Virgin Galactic, founded by Richard Branson in 2004, plans for its revamped Delta spacecraft to take its first flight in the summer of 2026, Bloomberg reported.
At that time, the launch would be the first suborbital trip in nearly two years for the company, which last headed for the stars in June 2024.
Virgin Galactic plans to begin assembling its first Delta spacecraft, designed for civilian space travel, in March.
The updated spacecraft, created for a quicker turnaround between flights, will be able to carry up to six passengers, two more than in previous iterations of the aircraft. The first missions will include only research payloads, the publication reported.
As for when private passengers can board, those flights are scheduled to begin in the fall of 2026. And you’ll have to shell out a good amount of money to join one of the Delta trips: ticket prices are estimated at $600,000.
The space company currently has a waiting list of around 700 ticket holders but says the Delta will clear the backlog in about a year.
Virgin Galactic completed its first commercial spaceflight in June 2023. The VSS Unity took off from New Mexico and landed about 90 minutes later with four passengers on board. Since then, the space company has successfully completed 12 flights to space.
Since the summer 2024 flight, Virgin Galactic has paused any space travel to work on the Delta, according to Bloomberg. A brand earnings report stated that it generated $430,000 in revenue during the fourth quarter of last year, slightly below the $460,000 analysts had predicted.
Branson, of course, is one of the few billionaires in the space tourism race. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin completed its latest New Shepard rocket launch this week, part of the brand’s efforts to take civilians to space. And with its Polaris Dawn mission, Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully executed the world’s first civilian spacewalk. We’ll see who raises the stakes next.
Source: RobbReport. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
