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Galactic Virgo (SPCE) is preparing for its first full crew flight, which will include Richard Branson, on Sunday. SPCE stock fell.
X
The theft would not only allow the company’s billionaire founder to beat Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos in space, but it is also crucial for the start of commercial service.
The mother ship Eve will take off from Spaceport America in New Mexico on Sunday morning, carrying SpaceShipTwo.
After reaching a high altitude, Eve will launch SpaceShipTwo, allowing the spacecraft to fire its rocket engines and rise to about 56 miles above the earth. Once there, the crew will experience weightlessness for approximately four minutes.
Virgin Galactic said Sunday’s flight will assess the customer’s cabin with a full crew, demonstrate the conditions for performing human experiments and confirm that Spaceport America’s training program supports spaceflight.
A live broadcast of the event begins at 9 a.m. ET Sunday, and actor Stephen Colbert will host the event.
Virgin Galactic has two more flights, including one with the Italian Air Force, to complete its test program. It plans to start commercial service in early 2022.
Once the company can transport space tourists, it can begin to generate regular income and possibly profit, by helping the stock of SPCE. For now, Virgin Galactic has planned revenue-generating flights for research missions.
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Blue Origin Shades SPCE Stock
Virgin Galactic shares fell 6.6% to close at 49.20 on the stock market today. SPCE stock has jumped over 9% this week and its 50-day line is now back above its 200-day line, according to MarketSmith chart analysis. Boeing (BA), whose venture capital subsidiary HorizonX owns a $ 20 million minority stake in Virgin Galactic, rose 1.2%. Among other space stocks, the launch supplier Astra (ASTR) lost 2.
Virgin Galactic maintained that it was not in competition with other commercial space companies and that it was on its own schedule, with an emphasis on security. But the theft comes just over a week before Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon (AMZN), plans to reach space on July 20.
Friday, Blue Origin tried to play down the theft from Virgin Galactic, tweeting “From the start, New Shepard was designed to fly over the Karman Line, so none of our astronauts have an asterisk next to their name.”
The Karman Line is about 100 km above Earth and is considered by some experts to be the border between outer space and the upper atmosphere. Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo flights reached approximately 90 km. However, the US Air Force and NASA define the key border 80 km above Earth.
Blue Origin’s tweet also listed other comparisons that it believes make its spaceflight on the New Shepard rocket superior.
In addition to Bezos, the July 20 Blue Origin flight will feature his brother as well as “Mercury 13” pilot Wally Funk, who was trained in the early days of the US space program. A mystery auction winner who paid $ 28 million for a ticket will also join the crew.
FAA prepares for more launches
With Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin taking significant steps toward commercial service, the Federal Aviation Administration is bracing for an increase in launches by commercial suppliers.
On Thursday, the regulator announced that it had activated a system for monitoring space launches and re-entry.
“It is an essential tool as the number of users of our already occupied airspace increases,” said FAA Administrator Steve Dickson. “With this capability, we will be able to safely reopen airspace more quickly and reduce the number of aircraft and other airspace users affected by a launch or re-entry.”
Last year, the FAA said it handled 45 space launches, but the regulator said it could break that record this year with more than 70 launches expected.
Follow Gillian Rich on Twitter for space news and more.
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