Virgin Galactic has been working for more than a decade to send paying passengers on short space hops and in 2021 finally won the federal government’s approval.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M — Virgin Galactic completed what is expected to be its final test flight Thursday before taking paying customers on brief trips to space, marking what the space tourism company described as a “fantastic achievement” in what has been a long road to commercial operations.
It was hard for her to put the experience into words, saying it probably will take a lifetime to process the sights and the feelings that filled those moments between the rocket igniting and the spaceship reaching its highest point. “You’re just waiting for the rocket to light,” said Huie, an aerospace engineer. “And I think that moment had so much anticipation, and I could have lived in that moment forever.”
The next step will be for Virgin Galactic to analyze data from Thursday’s flight and inspect the planes and other equipment as the company prepares for commercial service, possibly as soon as late June. About 800 tickets have been sold over the past decade, with the initial batch going for $200,000 each. Tickets now cost $450,000 per person.
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