GabyCommercial flights on the Delta SpaceShip will begin next summer. For a ticket to the tourist You will have to pay 600,000 dollars.
At the same time, the list of those eager to embark on such a journey is very long. However, those who are waiting for a space tour are unlikely to give up their goal due to the high ticket prices.
What is known about Branson’s company’s plans?
So, the dream of an English billionaire and traveler. Richard Branson The launch of regular commercial space flights has become more realistic. Recently, Virgin Galactic, founded in 2004, announced its intention to ramp up production of its latest spacecraft.
Work on it will begin next month in Phoenix, Arizona. Test flights are expected to take place in the spring of 2026, with the first commercial trips scheduled for the summer of that same year.
The new ships are designed for a crew of six space tourists. This is two passengers more than the previous ship of the company could accommodate. Richard Branson that last flew in June 2024. During the break, a queue of 700 commercial travelers formed, waiting for flights, the publication reported. Daily Mail .
Virgin Galactic proudly announced the opening of a “new space era, inviting everyone who is interested.”
Participants in space excursions will launch from the Spaceport America spaceport in New Mexico. Despite the high ticket prices, Virgin Galactic plans to build up to half a dozen Delta SpaceShip vehicles each year. The company’s management hopes to accommodate all potential tourists from the extensive waiting list within a year after the flights begin.
Passenger lounge at the spaceport in New Mexico
“The production and launch schedule for new ships remains at the same level, and our first commercial research space flight is expected in the summer of 2026, while the first flight of a private astronaut is anticipated in the fall of 2026,” said the company’s CEO, Michael Colglazier.
Mike Moses, president of the space division at Virgin Galactic, noted that the testing process will accelerate, as the Delta SpaceShip is designed based on the previous model, VSS Unity. It is worth recalling that tourists first embarked on a space journey aboard this ship in August 2023.
By the beginning of 2027, the company hopes to launch two flights of the new spacecraft per week. This is an extremely ambitious goal, considering the number of unsuccessful launches that have plagued Virgin Galactic in recent years.
In 2007, three workers died in an explosion during tests of a rocket engine. In 2014, a pilot was killed in an accident involving a spacecraft during a test flight.
By the way, similar failures have led Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to abandon their ambitions in the field of space tourism. At least for now.
