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Virgin Galactic announces that it will offer three offers: single-seat reservations (which will start at $ 450,000), multi-seat reservations for families and friends, and an option to purchase all six seats on any given flight for a “modest premium,” CEO Michael Colglazier told investors during an earnings call Thursday. Seats for “microgravity research and professional astronaut training” will be priced at $ 600,000 each, he said.
Tickets will first be offered to a “first hand lifter list” or to individuals who have joined the company’s so-called “Spacefarer Community” by making a deposit of $ 1,000 over the past few months.
About 1,000 people donated money for such a deposit, according to Aleanna Crane, vice president of communications for Virgin Galactic.
However, people who choose to put in the $ 450,000 for a seat may have to wait their turn for a while. More than 600 people – who bought tickets between $ 200,000 and $ 250,000 when Virgin Galactic sold its first batch of tickets almost ten years ago – are already on the waiting list for a chance to do so. a journey to the ends of space.
It took the company significantly longer than expected to complete the development and testing program for SpaceShipTwo, as the company’s space plane is called. In particular, a 2014 accident during a test flight killed one of the company’s co-pilots.
Virgin Galactic has since revamped the aircraft’s design, partnered with a new manufacturing company, and tested a new SpaceShipTwo on four successful flights that reached the edge of space, including that of Branson, which took off. last month.
News that the company is reopening ticket sales came with the company’s quarterly financial report, which revealed a net loss of more than $ 94 million. Virgin Galactic has been in the red every quarter since its 2019 IPO, though executives hope to turn the tide as it moves from its testing program to normal operations next year.
SpaceShipTwo will provide customers with a total one-hour experience, including a few minutes over what the US government considers the limit of space. Customers will soar approximately 40,000 to 50,000 feet in the air as the spacecraft is attached to a huge winged mothership. After cruising for about half an hour, SpaceShipTwo is then freed from the mothership, ignites its rocket engine, and plunges straight up as it exceeds three times the speed of sound and reaches over 50 miles above. from the surface of the Earth. Passengers will enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness and views of the Earth before the plane descends back to an airstrip.
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