The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has approved Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic resumption of its flying status. The hold up was due to a review of Virgin Galactic’s most recent SpaceShipTwo flight which deviated from its agreed flight plan on July 11th. There were 6 people on board including Branson and the flight reached an […]
Virgin Orbit (and not Virgin Galactic, which has problems with the US FAA over flight safety) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding and collaboration with Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). The agreement sees Virgin Orbit and SwRI exploring multiple specialized mission opportunities using the company’s LauncherOne rocket system and “coupled with SwRI’s deep expertise in space […]
Bitmax, the global media management and licensing company, will be releasing the documentary Eating Our Way to Extinction across digital platforms including iTunes & Google from September 30th. The acclaimed documentary, narrated by Academy Award winner Kate Winslet and featuring Sir Richard Branson, will premier in London on September 8th and will be available for […]
Following the announcement of its merger with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) in the form of NextGen Acquisition Corp, Virgin Orbit now says it wants its own in-orbit satellite system. Backed by Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Orbit wants to transition from launching small satellites to building its own satellite constellation for Internet-of-Things (IoT) and […]
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit satellite launch system (and not to be confused with his Virgin Galactic passenger tourism venture) is set to go public with a NASDAQ quote. The company says its revenues will grow 100-fold by 2025 to $1.55 billion. Virgin Orbit has merged with one of the increasingly fashionable Special Purpose Acquisitions […]
Following on from the success of launching himself and three passengers into space last week, Sir Richard Branson’s sister business Virgin Orbit will start launching and deploying a greater number of satellites in 2022. Virgin Orbit’s VP/Flight & Launch Activities, Tyler Grinnell, newly appointed to the position after a dozen years at SpaceX, told Fox […]
To describe Sir Richard Branson as a successful entrepreneur is perhaps an understatement, but the world knows that billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos tops that category. However, when it comes to sub-orbital space flight, the pair are almost neck and neck in their ambitions. On July 11th, while insisting there’s absolutely no rivalry with Bezos, […]
Last week the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a licence extension to Sir Richard Branson-backed Virgin Galactic. It means that the aircraft and rocket combination can now fly commercial passengers into near-space. This is the first FAA permission needed for Virgin Galactic to carry passengers. Branson has repeatedly promised to be aboard the first […]
Sir Richard Branson managed to handle a reverse take-over of his Virgin Galactic space tourism business by a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) and a stock market listing in October 2019. Now he is reportedly trying a similar scheme with Virgin Orbit. Branson is looking for another SPAC, this time targeting NextGeneration Acquisition II, which […]
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic ‘spaceship’ VSS Unity achieved a speed of Mach 3 after being released from the mothership, VMS Eve, and reached space at an altitude of 55.45 miles (89 kms) before gliding smoothly to a runway landing at Spaceport America in New Mexico back on May 22nd. The Unity craft carried a […]