New York, Dusseldorf With three Italian scientists on board, the space company Virgin Galactic has started its commercial flight operations into space. The VSS Unity spaceplane launched Thursday along with its mother plane, the VMS Eve, from a spaceport in the US state of New Mexico, live images from Virgin Galactic showed.
At an altitude of about 14 kilometers, “VSS Unity” undocked from “VMS Eve” and started a short all-flight. Then the “VSS Unity” landed back at the spaceport.
Several Virgin Galactic pilots and commanders were also involved in both aircraft, in addition to scientists Walter Villadei, Angelo Landolfi and Pantaleone Carlucci of the Italian Air Force and Italy’s National Science Council.
The passengers collected data for around a dozen experiments on the short flight. They were also allowed to leave their seats for a short period of time, experienced weightlessness and unfurled an Italian flag.
At the latest since the implosion of the experimental submersible “Titan” almost two weeks ago, which claimed five lives, such forms of extreme tourism have been the subject of heated debate. Observers warn that Virgin Galactic is also using untested technologies.
However, Virgin Galactic sees the successful launch as a confirmation of its vision. The next commercial launch is already planned for early August, this time with “private astronauts” on board, the company said.
According to the company, tickets for the tour, which lasts around one and a half hours, should cost around 450,000 dollars (about 400,000 euros).
Income urgently needed
Virgin Galactic can make good use of the revenue from the flights. The company’s stock price has been hovering at lows around $4 since the fall of 2022. Virgin is a long way from former highs of over 50 dollars. On Thursday, the papers fell by more than ten percent.
Virgin went public in 2019 through a special investment vehicle, a so-called Spac. In 2021, the founder, the dazzling billionaire and serial entrepreneur Richard Branson, sold almost 75 percent of his shares at an average price of $29. At the end of 2022, according to the specialist magazine AeroTime, Branson still owned almost eleven percent of Virgin via a complex investment structure.
In the first quarter of 2023, the space company posted a net loss of $159 million.
Shares fell nearly a fifth last Friday after Virgin said it would issue up to $400 million in new paper, diluting existing shareholders’ stakes. In the past ten months, Virgin had already issued shares worth $300 million.
Virgin Galactic decided to do so because the company urgently needs cash, wrote investor Rich Smith. The move is necessary “to raise the money needed to expand its space tourism fleet,” but angers many investors.
“Age of Space Tourism” begins
Virgin Galactic has been working towards the start of commercial flight operations for around 20 years and has suffered numerous setbacks. It’s not the only company looking to launch affluent extreme tourists into space.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his company Blue Origin have already sent several passengers into space. Another competitor is Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX, which has so far carried out two completely private missions to the International Space Station (ISS).
In July 2021, Branson flew into space in his own spacecraft in a virtual race among billionaires ten days ahead of Bezos.
The age of space tourism is beginning, says Ulrich Walter, Professor of Space Technology at the Technical University of Munich. Whether Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin or Space X would prevail is ultimately irrelevant.
“Prices will fall drastically over time,” believes the scientist. He is fundamentally positive about mass tourism in space.
“Anyone who has seen the earth like this will realize how fragile it is,” says Walter, who was in space for almost ten days in 1993 with the space shuttle Columbia. “You also become aware of how artificial national borders are.” Important insights in times of war and climate change.
With material from dpa.
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