Another 100 space tourists buy a ride from Virgin Galactic: $25k of that ticket deposit is 'non-refundable'
- Reference: 1636461398
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/11/09/virgin_galactic_q3/
- Source link:
While the new price per trip is a beefy $450,000, the deposit is $150,000 – of which $25,000 is non-refundable. "Like hot cakes" is not a metaphor that springs to mind.
The extra sales in calendar Q3 have brought the total number of what the company calls "future astronauts" to 700. Virgin Galactic is aiming for 1,000 ticket sales before it kicks off commercial service.
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The news came as the space arm of Richard Branson's holdings [2]reported its calendar Q3, saying losses had narrowed. Nonetheless, it continues to provide backing for the saying: "How do you make a small fortune in the space business? Start with a large one."
[3]
A waiting lounge area in Spaceport America – no, you don't get armrests as well for your $450,000. Greedy...
The company reported a loss of $48m for the quarter ending 30 September 2021, compared to a $92m net loss for the same time in 2020. Revenues stood at $2.6m for the three months.
As for when VG plans to bus the tourists to space, the company confirmed it remained a year out from commencing that commercial service, which is plenty of time to keep burning through the cash. In July 2021, it generated $500m by [4]selling approximately 13.7 million shares of common stock, with proceeds headed for "general corporate purposes" and building more spaceships.
[5]
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Following the Unity 22 flight (and [7]subsequent furore with the FAA and [8]issues with a supplier component ) Virgin Galactic started a "planned enhancement program" for both the carrier aircraft VMS Eve and the rocket plane VSS Unity, with the Italian Air Force mission (Unity 23) taking place afterwards, in 2022.
[9]Shatner breaks the age barrier, goes where no nonagenarian has gone before with Blue Origin rocket trip
[10]Pretend starship captain to take trip in real space capsule
[11]Virgin Galactic cleared to fly again after a spell on Federal Aviation Administration's naughty step
[12]The day has a 'y' in it, so Virgin Galactic has announced another delay
Once that mission is done (as well as "vehicle testing") the long-delayed first commercial flight can finally take place.
And the FAA? While it remains vaguely surprising that there was no procedure to communicate the deviation of Unity 22's flight path to air traffic control in real-time, CEO Michael Colglazier told analysts that next time Virgin Galactic would keep the FAA informed and had expanded the protected air space "for future flights."
As for building a fleet, the next SpaceShipTwo, VSS Imagine, is scheduled to take its first glide flight towards the end of 2022 before starting revenue-generating flights in 2023. Virgin Galactic also has plans to up the flights between major inspections for VMS Eve from 10 flights to 100 flights and increase its flight cadence to 400 flights per year per spaceport. If it manages this, that would be quite a leap from the four powered flights achieved by VSS Unity since 2018. ®
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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YYqpSdzLv62WyhNRjUrckgAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.virgingalactic.com/articles/virgin-galactic-announces-third-quarter-2021-financial-results/
[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/11/09/shutterstock_spaceport_america.jpg
[4] https://investors.virgingalactic.com/news/news-details/2021/Virgin-Galactic-Announces-Second-Quarter-2021-Financial-Results/default.aspx
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YYqpSdzLv62WyhNRjUrckgAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YYqpSdzLv62WyhNRjUrckgAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/03/virgin_galactic_grounded/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/13/virgin_galactic/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/13/shatner_space_flight/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/04/blue_origin_shatner/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/30/virgin_galactic_faa/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/13/virgin_galactic/
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Move quickly and break things
The whole FAA thing was spun into something much bigger than it really was by the Reg. It was a minor error caused by a minor oversight in planning, that is fixed by a minor change in procedures.
There's a huge difference between making a mistake that directly compromises safety, and making a mistake that compromises a small part of the processes designed to ensure safety. This was very definitely the latter.
Tax haven
[1]Branson Shifts $1.1 Billion Galactic Holding Between Tax Havens
Nothing to see here...
[1] https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/branson-shifts-1-1-billion-galactic-holding-between-tax-havens
Re: Tax haven
'Man transfers assets to jurisdiction in which he lives' is not a story.
Don't you have to go into space in order to be an astronaut?
Is there an actual commercial use case for this? It seems to me that it's just sort of joyriding really really high up, rather than, say, crossing an ocean (or east coast to west) in an hour or two...
Re: Don't you have to go into space in order to be an astronaut?
Joyride for the 1%ers.
Muskism at its best.
Re: Don't you have to go into space in order to be an astronaut?
You don't need to earn that much to be in the top 1%. Somewhere around £150k this year. About 5% of us will manage that at some point (income varies annually). I managed it first in my early 30s. In about 5 of the last 20 years too - I have a very variable income.
These spaceflights are for the top 1% of the top 1% - a whole different sphere to operate in.
Re: Don't you have to go into space in order to be an astronaut?
£150k? Whut? £50k a year puts you in the top 1% by income. Almost everyone in the UK is in the top 2.5% globally, by income.
Conspiracy theories are based on pseudo-facts like the ones you're pushing. But they're total nonsense, like your 'facts'.
Re: Don't you have to go into space in order to be an astronaut?
"The 1%ers" is a moveable target, depending on the persons stating it, their agenda and the context. It might mean people in a specific country, region or the whole world, wage earners only, adults only, working age only or all people, amongst other definitions, which vastly changes who they are.
Re: Don't you have to go into space in order to be an astronaut?
Is there an actual commercial use case for this?
Leisure and tourism, and the entertainment industry are as commercial as it gets. Are you suggesting that Disneyworld isn't a commercial enterprise?
Having said that, the article states that the next flight, Unity 23, for the Italian Air Force is a research mission.
Re: Don't you have to go into space in order to be an astronaut?
"Is there an actual commercial use case for this?"
Yes, very much so. Not the 'space tourism', of course. That is just a way of making some money during the development of the real system.
People (mostly) don't seem to have clocked that the payload - the tourist capsule - is sufficiently heavy that it could be replaced with a small orbital vehicle (and the required thrusters). The total launch cost to orbit is significantly lower than rocket-from-the-ground systems.
While the Musky one has rockets that can get into orbit, it's the same old system used for a century - take off from ground level carrying all your fuel and oxidiser. Virgin are doing something new, using air-breathing jet engines to add height and (crucially) speed to a payload.
Whether this can be successfully scaled-up and made to work is still arguable. But it's definitely an ambitious attempt to move launches to new tech, and capture a large slice of the sat-launch market, rather than a plaything for rich people.
Re: Don't you have to go into space in order to be an astronaut?
And not forgetting the potential for high speed sub-orbital point to point travel for those who can afford it.
Point Avoider
I just don't know how to feel about the Star Trek-ness of that logo.
I understand how long-standing the chevron is in this kinda iconography sort of thing, but I just can't help but feel a little 'damn kids get off my lawn' about it.
Move quickly and break things
I am slightly amazed that "CEO Michael Colglazier told analysts that next time Virgin Galactic would keep the FAA informed " .
Surely that is step 1 in flight planning these jaunts?
Let's hope the Agile/disruptive mantra "Move quickly and break things" doesn't apply literally to space tourism