Virgin Galactic Gains FAA Approval
 

https://www.reuters.com/technology/b...ce-2021-06-25/

Interestingly no mention of the Karman line..........:oh:

Will the Karmen line still be mentioned when they're based in Cornwall? ;)

In Cornwall it's the Kernow line.

Did the launch from Mojave go successfully today ?

Yes, but that's for a different thread.

And there was me thinking one virgin was the same as another! Glad it was successful, hopefully it will reduce the cost and complexity of delivering smaller payloads into LEO.

Branson aims to beat Bezos in the billionaire space race.

Sir Richard Branson sets 11 July to make spaceflight

https://mashable.com/article/stephen...alactic-launch

Stephen Colbert to host Virgin Galactic's livestream launching Richard Branson into space

The Late Show's Stephen Colbert is set to host Virgin's global livestream of the Unity 22 launch on Sunday, July 11…..

The livestream will begin at 7 a.m. ET on Sunday through Virgin Galactic's website and the Virgin Galactic Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook channels.….

Good timing, all being well he should be back in time to watch the match. 😁

He's on his way...

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/r...ilot-35gnvqgfm

Virgin Galactic jettisons its chief test pilot

Virgin Galactic has parted company with its flight test director Mark “Forger” Stucky, the daring flying ace seen as an integral part of Sir Richard Branson’s quest beyond Earth.

“Departing a company not on my own timeline was a first for me,” he told The Times, after announcing the news on his LinkedIn page. “If life throws you lemons, then maybe it’s time to learn to juggle,” he added.

A respected aviator who flew with the US Marines, navy and air force, including combat missions during the first Gulf War and the Iraq War, Stucky, 62, became a test pilot for Nasa in 1993.

After stints in the commercial airline industry and back in the military, he was hired as a test pilot in 2009 by Scaled Composites, a California aerospace company run by Burt Rutan, whose success with experimental suborbital rocket planes led to Branson founding Virgin Galactic.

Branson hired Stucky in 2015, ten years after partnering with Rutan to co-found The Spaceship Company and build more spacecraft with the intention of ultimately flying passengers.

Stucky was central to a book by Nicholas Schmidle titled Test Gods: Virgin Galactic and the Making of a Modern Astronaut published just weeks ago.

It chronicled Virgin Galactic’s rise from a faltering space start-up to the first suborbital passenger space liner, including a disaster in 2014 that killed the pilot Mike Alsbury during a test flight of the company’s rocket ship VSS Enterprise over the Mojave desert, California.

The previous year, Alsbury and Stucky had piloted the spacecraft to 48,000ft on its first powered flight, breaking the sound barrier and marking a key milestone in Virgin Galactic’s path to space.

Terry Virts, a former commander of the International Space Station and a colleague of Stucky, said: “He’s a great test pilot and has been a big part of helping Virgin Galactic get their spaceship flying.”

Others in the industry said that losing Stucky was “hard to fathom” and “makes no sense”.

Virgin Galactic declined to share the reasons for the separation.

Given the timing perhaps there was something in the book that was attributable to Mark Stucky that wasn’t on message enough for the Virgin Brand?

Anybody read it?

Red Light for Virgin
 

Disturbing reading. Not sure I’d fly with them even for free - and I’m someone who would jump at a chance to fly on a Starship once it’s been through its test flights.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-...s-space-flight

The Red Warning Light on Richard Branson’s Space Flight

As with all newspaper articles a grain of salt is required. Especially from a writer who no doubt wants to promote their own book.

Possibly, but the allegations are fairly serious and appear to have some foundation. I’m not sure the FAA simply react to some third-party rumour! Something went awry; lets wait and see the outcome.

Just waking the forum.
 

now he has to make money from it

I do wonder if that was the last we've seen of Virgin Galactic. I would be shocked if the Delta-class spaceship ever flies

The company has $867M of cash but racks up $500M (!) in losses a year. They can no longer tap capital markets to get to Delta b/c the business model fundamentally doesn't work, and it's not even really close. A semi-operational $SPCE pulled in $7M in revenue in 2023

If they do get to Delta, Virgin would also need to work through its 600-ticket backlog of deeply unprofitable/ under-priced tickets before selling its $600K tickets (which will also likely have limited demand)

It just sucks b/c a lot of to-the-moon retail investors lost 99% of value on this stock. Also frustrating b/c there are plenty of other solid space investment plays.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/0...lane-now-what/

Virgin Galactic has ceased flying its only space plane. Now what?


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