Commercial space tourism: Virgin Galactic delays launch

Virgin Galactic actually wanted to be at the forefront when it comes to offering suborbital space excursions. But the competition now seems to be pulling away a bit.

With Blue Origin, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is heading towards the start of his own space service within three months after two successful flights with a crew. Virgin Galactic is still a long way from that. Even if the founder himself saw the earth from above nine days before Jeff Bezos. The enterprise announcedthat its own commercial start, which was planned for the middle of next year, will be postponed to the last quarter of 2022.

Founded by billionaire businessman Richard Branson, the company is about to launch an “improvement program” to optimize the performance and airspeed of its two flagships. Specifically, it concerns the space probe VSS Unity and the carrier aircraft VMS Eve.

As for the background, the company said a recent laboratory-based test revealed a potential reduction in the strength limits of certain materials used to modify specific connectors. This discovery now requires further detailed physical inspections.

Basically, the flying objects are designed to withstand forces that are theoretically much higher than those that actually act during the flight. Nevertheless, there is a clearly defined strength limit and if an analysis shows that this is not being adhered to, a decision must be made “whether additional work is required to keep it at or above the specified level”. Once all the necessary reviews and improvements have been made, Virgin Galactic is expected to launch its next test flight in mid-2022.

Travel to space can already be booked with Virgin Galactic. The company charges $ 450,000 for a seat in the capsule.