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 […]
The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has firmly told Virgin Galactic that its SpaceShipTwo Boeing ‘Cosmic Girl’ and sub-orbital rocket flights are grounded. The FAA is investigating why the SpaceShipTwo rocket departed from its planned – and authorised – flight path. “Virgin Galactic may not return the SpaceShipTwo vehicle to flight until the FAA approves the […]
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’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 […]
Sir Richard Branson-backed Virgin Galactic space tourism business reported its Q1 numbers after the market closed on May 10th, and the news was not good. The revenue position was but one problem; A larger problem was that the company announced that there was no news as to when it would start flying paying passengers. Virgin […]
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin/New Shephard rocket is scheduled to carry its first space tourist passengers on July 20th. The move means that Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic will now be a very definite second place in the race to tap into space tourism. A note to clients from investment bank UBS says that Virgin Galactic […]
Virgin Orbit has launched its first batch of small satellites on its Virgin Orbit converted jumbo jet (named ‘Cosmic Girl’). The launch took place from Virgin’s Mojave Desert location on January 17th at 18.50 GMT (1.50pm ET) The Virgin Orbit aircraft carried a 21 metre rocket (‘LauncherOne’) under its port (left) wing and deployed 10 […]
Spaceport America, which operates out of a desert location in New Mexico, has reportedly removed its CEO/Executive Director, Dan Hicks. Spaceport America is home to the likes of Virgin Galactic, UP Aerospace, Exos Aerospace and others. Its owner is the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. The Authority’s board members reportedly voted 6-1 to remove Mr Hicks […]
Richard Branson’s space tourism business Virgin Galactic saw its share price rocket 24.9 per cent on September 28th following a highly favourable analyst overview. A Bank of America report on Virgin Galactic firmly recommended the company’s shares to investors, bring up to eight the number of Wall Street analysts who are favouring the company. “No […]