Virgin Galactic Flight Test Program Update

Virgin Galactic will Operate Rocket Powered Flight with Reduced Team Onsite in Response to New State Government COVID-19 Restrictions

Photo Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. has announced its new flight window since it paused the spaceflight preparations in response to state guidelines from the New Mexico Department of Health to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

The new flight window will open on December 11, pending good weather conditions and technical readiness. This flight expects to fulfill a number of objectives, including testing elements of the customer cabin as well as assessing the upgraded horizontal stabilizers and flight controls during boost. The flight will also carry payloads as part of the NASA Flight Opportunities Program.

The flight will be conducted by essential personnel only. No guests or media will be onsite, in accordance with company and state COVID-19 protocols. The operational footprint at our New Mexico facilities has been further minimized in the past 2 weeks. Only essential staff will be onsite to support the pre-flight operations ahead of the flight and the day of flight.

Virgin Galactic delays test flights

Virgin Galactic Holdings, in accordance with new guidelines from the New Mexico Department of Health to disrupt the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the state, today announced that it will be minimizing its operational footprint at its New Mexico facilities.

In consultation with government officials, and as a result of these new operations restrictions, the space flight that was planned to occur between November 19-23, 2020 will be rescheduled.

Michael Colglazier, CEO, Virgin Galactic said: ‘With the health and safety of our team members in mind, and in accordance with the recent direction from the New Mexico Department of Health, we will be minimizing our New Mexico operations to the greatest degree possible. While these new restrictions cause us to adjust our flight schedule, we take this pause in stride and will be prepared to resume our pre-flight procedures and announce a new test flight window as soon as we can. Our team members at Virgin Galactic, our Future Astronauts, and our fans around the world remain incredibly excited for our upcoming spaceflight.’

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Want to see inside a space ship?

Virgin Galactic Reveals SpaceShipTwo Cabin Interior

Photo Virgin Galatic 

Virgin Galactic Holdings, the vertically integrated aerospace and space travel company revealed the cabin interior of its first SpaceShipTwo vehicle, VSS Unity in a virtual event streamed live on YouTube yesterday.

Aspiring astronauts and space enthusiasts around the world, now have the opportunity to explore the Virgin Galactic cabin design and spaceflight experience through an augmented reality enabled mobile app, which launches after the live event, and is available to download for free at both the App Store and Play Store.

Photo Virgin Galatic

One Virgin Galactic, in collaboration with London design agency, Seymourpowell, has striven to remain faithful to the Virgin tradition of developing an elegant but progressive, experience-focused concept design for the cabin of its spaceship.

While it has been created to integrate seamlessly with every other aspect of the Virgin Galactic astronaut journey – the cabin is also the design centrepiece; providing safety without distraction, quietly absorbing periods of sensory intensity and offering each astronaut a level of intimacy required for personal discovery and transformation.

Cabin design driven by astronaut experience:
Individually sized, reclining seats for G-force management and float zone volume;
Automated mood lighting harmonizes with each flight phase;
Personal seat back screens connect astronauts to live flight data;
Cabin architecture facilitates effortless movement in weightlessness;
16 cameras provide high definition footage and stills;
12 cabin windows for astronauts to gaze at Earth from;
Largest mirror in a spaceship cabin – mirror reflects the real-time astronaut experience.

Virgin Galactic names Michael Colglazier as its new CEO

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. announced this week the appointments of Michael Colglazier as its new Chief Executive Officer.  

Virgin Galactic's current CEO, George Whitesides and new CEO, Michael Colglazier

Michael assumes the CEO role just as the space firm progresses through its test flight programme and prepares for commercial service. He will also join the Board of Directors. Most recently Michael was President and Managing Director, Disney Parks International, where he was responsible for operations, strategy, and commercial and experiential development of Disney’s international parks and resorts.

Michael Colglazier said, “I am thrilled to join the talented team at Virgin Galactic at this inflection point in the Company’s journey. Like so many others, including hundreds of signed-up customers, I have been inspired by this purpose-driven, world-class brand and the incredible opportunity it offers to open space to change the world for good."

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Completes Second Flight from Spaceport America

SpaceShipTwo Unity Released From VMS Eve for Second Glide Flight in New Mexico                        Photo Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. confirmed the successful completion of the second SpaceShipTwo test flight from Spaceport America, yesterday. This flight follows the completion of the first test flight from the Company’s commercial headquarters in New Mexico on May 1, 2020, and marks another important milestone as the team progresses toward the launch of Virgin Galactic’s commercial service.

Virgin Galactic signs agreement with NASA for private orbital spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS)

 Photo Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic Holdings, announced the signing of a Space Act Agreement with NASA’s Johnson Space Center to encourage commercial participation in orbital human spaceflight to the International Space Station (“ISS”) while enabling the development of a robust economy in Low Earth Orbit.

Under the agreement, Virgin Galactic will develop a new private orbital astronaut readiness program. This program will include identifying candidates interested in purchasing private astronaut missions to the ISS, the procurement of transportation to the ISS, on-orbit resources, and ground resources. Supporting and coordinating the use of ISS resources will be an important point of integration required for each private astronaut mission. The next generation of space traveller is interested in a variety of space experiences. Building on its commercial spaceflight training experience, Virgin Galactic believes it can provide an unparalleled, personalized customer experience for orbital space travel.

Richard Branson hopes to make $500 million from selling a stake in Virgin Galactic to bailout other interests

Part of Virgin Galactic is now up for sale as Richard Branson seeks to raise urgent extra finance to help bail out his other business interests that are currently struggling to cope during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. 

Branson had been facing a business backlash after demanding a UK government bailout for Virgin Atlantic, whilst refusing to put any extra finance into the airline, that's part-owned by the US airline Delta. Virgin Atlantic is already taking advantage of the government's furlough scheme whereby the majority of staff are having 80% of their wages paid by the state.   

The airline had already announced it would be shedding over 3000 jobs and drop its operations from London Gatwick, causing a massive shockwave in the local community.

Branson is hoping to raise $500 million from the sale of the stake in the loss-making Virgin Galactic which will then be used to prop up his other business interests including Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia. 

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Virgin Galactic announces first quarter 2020 loss of $60 million

Photo Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic Holdings, a vertically integrated aerospace company, has announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020.

“In the first quarter we made significant progress toward our goal of opening access to space in a safe and responsible way,” said George Whitesides, Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Galactic. "We are encouraged by the response to our ‘One Small Step’ initiative, with over 400 refundable deposit payments received from individuals from 44 countries, representing over $100 million of potential future revenue upon full ticket payment. We believe this response to our ‘One Small Step’ initiative demonstrates the appetite for our product offering among new potential Future Astronauts, complementing the strength and ongoing support of our existing customer base of 600 Future Astronauts who already have reservations on our spaceflights. The COVID-19 outbreak led to an unprecedented situation for companies and individuals across the world, but I am encouraged by the commitment displayed by our team in helping to support relief efforts while making program progress. We remain focused on our strategic goals and our path to commercial launch.”

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo completes its first flight from Spaceport America

SpaceshipTwo Unity flying free in the New Mexico Airspace for the first time (Photo: Business Wire)

Yesterday, Virgin Galactic announced the successful completion of its first SpaceShipTwo test flight from Spaceport America.  This glide flight marks the inaugural solo flight of VSS Unity in New Mexico and as such is an important flight test milestone in preparation for commercial service.

On SpaceShipTwo’s flight deck were Dave Mackay and CJ Sturckow who, together with the team in Mission Control, executed some of the key elements of a spaceflight profile. These included take-off and landing along with high-altitude release from the mothership, VMS Eve, which was piloted by Michael Masucci and Kelly Latimer.

The flight took off from the Spaceport America runway, with VSS Unity attached to the carrier aircraft, VMS Eve. The vehicles climbed to an altitude of 50,000ft before Unity was released, at which point VSS Unity flew freely for the first time in New Mexico airspace. The spaceship achieved a glide speed of Mach 0.70 and completed multiple test-points, before touching back down smoothly for a runway landing at Spaceport America.

Virgin Galactic is a critical infrastructure business........

Photo Virgin Galactic

Billionaire Richard Branson’s space tourism company Virgin Galactic Holdings will keep running as a critical infrastructure business, even as many U.S. states in which it operates have mandated business closures during the coronavirus outbreak.

“We are an aerospace manufacturer with defense and government contracts and therefore categorized as a Critical Infrastructure business,” a company spokeswoman told Reuters in an emailed statement.

The company, which aims to offer the first commercial space flight later this year with Branson on board, added that a vast majority of its workforce is working from home.

Virgin Galactic’s net losses widened to $73 million (59 million pounds) in the fourth quarter from $46 million in the year-ago period, it reported in its first financial results as a publicly-traded company in February.

Separately, Branson is seeking 500 million pounds ($619.36 million) from the British government to bail out his Virgin Atlantic airline during the virus outbreak.

Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Chang

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Virgin Galactic's latest results

Virgin Galactic Holdings, a vertically integrated aerospace company, today announced financial results for its third quarter of fiscal year 2019.

Third-quarter results for VG reflect the three months ended September 30, 2019, prior to the closing on October 25, 2019 of the recent business combination (the “Business Combination”) between VG’s predecessor, VGH, LLC, and Social Capital Hedosophia, a public investment vehicle. The Business Combination provided net proceeds to VG of over $430 million, which VG intends to use to fund its operations. Pre-transaction owners of VGH, LLC retained over 58% ownership of VG following the Business Combination.

“We believe our third quarter results reflect our ongoing progress as we execute on our strategy toward commercial launch,” said George Whitesides, Chief Executive Officer of VG. “We are thrilled to have completed our merger with Social Capital Hedosophia and to be trading publicly, both of which are major steps forward in the Company’s mission to open space for everyone.”

Virgin Galactic merges with Social Capital Hedosophia.......VG

Virgin Galactic and investment firm Social Capital Hedosophia have merged with the resulting company is named Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc with its common stock expected to commence trading on the New York Stock Exchange on October 28, 2019. 

Virgin Galactic already has reservations from more than 600 people in 60 countries representing approximately $80 million in total collected deposits, and over $120 million of potential revenue. 

Three Space and Aviation Industry Veterans Agree to Join Board of Directors of Virgin Galactic Holdings

Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. and Virgin Galactic announced that Wanda Austin, Craig Kreeger and George Mattson have agreed to join the board of directors of Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. ("VGH"), the company resulting from the pending business combination transaction involving SCH and Virgin Galactic. The board appointments are contingent on approval by SCH's shareholders and the completion of the business combination between SCH and Virgin Galactic.

Upon the closing of the business combination transaction and election by the SCH shareholders, VGH's board of directors (the "Board") will consist of eight members, who are expected to bring a wealth of expertise and experience across technology, aviation, space, international markets, operational and financial management.

The latest proposed nominees to the Board are:

Virgin Galactic opens the doors to its new Gateway to Space........say hello to the Spaceport America in New Mexico

Virgin Galactic today revealed the first look at the interior fit-out of its Gateway to Space building at Spaceport America in New Mexico. The work completed showcased two floors of the building primarily focused on spaceflight operations, which also incorporates communal spaces designed for use in the future by Virgin Galactic customers, along with their friends and families. Completion of this interior work means the spaceport facility is now operationally functional and able to support Virgin Galactic’s flight requirements.

One of the hallmarks of the Virgin brand for over nearly half a century has been the use of inspired and bold design to transform customer experiences. It is an ethos that has been successfully applied across industrial sectors and design disciplines. From aircraft cabins to hotel bedrooms and from fitness classes to bank accounts.

Virgin Galactic has striven to remain faithful to that tradition by choosing an elegant, experience-focused concept for the space launch system itself. Similarly, the company’s choice to operate from Spaceport America in New Mexico was due in no small part to the state’s decision to commission landmark architecture for the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport. The Foster + Partners Gateway to Space facility pays homage to the past in its respect for the ancient surrounding landscape while powerfully embracing the future through energy efficiency and sustainability. It was also specifically designed to enable Virgin Galactic to create an unparalleled experience as its customers prepare for journeys of a lifetime before graduating as astronauts.