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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc has completed a lengthy upgrade period for its centerpiece tourist spacecraft, with commercial service on track to begin in the second quarter of 2023, the company announced on Tuesday.
The company, founded by billionaire Richard Branson, had suspended flights of the spaceplane VSS Unity and its carrier plane in 2021 to make various spacecraft enhancements, delaying the company’s debut customer mission to the edge of space.
“Our near-term objective for commercial spaceline operations is to safely deliver recurring flights with our current ships while providing an unrivaled experience for private astronauts and researchers,” Virgin Galactic chief executive Michael Colglazier said in a statement on the company’s Q4 and year-end 2022 earnings.
This month, VSS Unity’s twin-fuselage carrier plane VMS Eve made its first flight since 2021. It plans the first commercial mission in Q2, involving a research trip to the edge of space for the Italian Air Force.
After that mission, Virgin Galactic expects “two or three” more flights before it attempts to fly monthly commercial missions, Colglazier said during an earnings call, reaffirming a crucial goal to handle the the company’s some 800 customers in line to fly.
