The Virgin Galactic story is not about its first operational spaceflight, as long-awaited as that may be. It's about cadence.
So, the math. Virgin Galactic sold about 600 tickets at $250,000 or less, representing the majority of its total reservations. Virgin Galactic has at most flown three passengers at a time, in addition to its chief astronaut trainer, Beth Moses, on its Unity test flights.
Even in an optimistic scenario where Virgin Galactic gets Unity to a monthly flight cadence with four passengers each by the end of this year, that's roughly 25 or so flights, or $25 million, by the time a Delta spacecraft enters service. That's leaps and bounds more than the company has generated since its founding in 2004. But it won't do much to dentYes, Virgin Galactic has nearly $900 million in cash and securities to continue to cover losses in the meantime.
And there's another, albeit speculative, wrinkle: At what point does the mystique and wonder, of flying on a rocket-powered spaceplane and spending a couple minutes in weightlessness, wear off? Granted, at leastin paying for such a service. But a half-a-million-dollar seat to space may seem less worthwhile after a few thousand people have already been. An imperfect but helpful comparison is the grueling, roughly $50,000 experience of summiting Mount Everest.
Virgin Galactic's turning point, therefore, is not flying its first passengers. It's flying the 50th, 100th and 1,000th. And we've seen just how hard that can be, as , despite multiple successful crew flights, after a cargo launch's failure. Until any suborbital space tourism company can achieve consistency, the business model doesn't add up., as safety panel raises skepticism over readiness for July crew launch. The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel urged the agency not to rush into the first Starliner crew flight, asking NASA to take a "deep look" at remaining technical issues.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
NASA, Canadian Space Agency award up to $750K to teams competing in Deep Space Food ChallengeEight winning teams located across the globe have been awarded $750,000 in prizes as a part of NASA and the Canadian Space Agency's Deep Space Food Challenge.
Read more »
Why has Virgin Orbit shut down and what will happen to UK spaceports?Virgin Orbit's failed launch in January was the start of the end for the company, which has now sold off its assets and shut down for good. But what does this mean for Richard Branson's other space firm, Virgin Galactic?
Read more »
Galactic Bubbles: Unexpected Complexity of the Milky Way’s Mysterious StructuresFresh look at old data reveals novel details about galactic formation. Astronomers have found that eRosita bubbles, high-energy gas structures in the Milky Way, are more complex and not hotter than surrounding areas, contrary to previous assumptions. Their analysis of Suzaku satellite data suggests
Read more »
What to buy in large, mid, and small cap stocks: BofA investing guideHere's how Bank of America is telling traders to invest up and down the spectrum from large cap to small to book maximum profits while playing smart defense
Read more »
Target Stock Price Today | NYSE TGT Live Ticker - Investing.com⚠️BREAKING: *TARGET SHARES END AT NEW 52-WEEK LOW, FALL TO LOWEST LEVEL SINCE AUGUST 2020 *TARGET STOCK DECLINES FOR NINTH STRAIGHT DAY AMID BOYCOTT CONCERNS $TGT
Read more »
Mark Mobius calls investing in China a 'dilemma' amid national security lawsBillionaire investor Mark Mobius says he's been able to get his money out of China, but investing in the country is still a 'dilemma' amid national security laws
Read more »