GabyCommercial flights on the Delta SpaceShip will begin next summer. A ticket for a tourist seat will cost $600,000.
The waiting list for those eager to take the trip is long. Despite the high price, those on the list are unlikely to give up their goal.
What is known about Branson’s company’s plans?
The dream of English billionaire and traveler Richard Branson—the launch of regular commercial space flights—has become more realistic. Recently, Virgin Galactic, founded in 2004, announced plans to ramp up production of its latest spacecraft.
Work on the new ship will begin next month in Phoenix, Arizona. Test flights are expected in the spring of 2026, with the first commercial trips scheduled for the summer of that year.
The new ships are designed to carry six space tourists, two more than the company’s previous vehicle could accommodate. That craft last flew in June 2024. During the pause in flights, about 700 commercial travelers joined the waiting list, the Daily Mail reported.
Virgin Galactic said it is “opening a new space era, inviting everyone who is interested.”
Participants in space excursions will launch from the Spaceport America spaceport in New Mexico. Despite the high ticket prices, Virgin Galactic plans to build up to half a dozen Delta SpaceShip vehicles each year. Company management hopes to accommodate everyone on the waiting list within a year after flights begin.
Passenger lounge at the spaceport in New Mexico
“The production and launch schedule for new ships remains at the same level, and our first commercial research space flight is expected in the summer of 2026, while the first flight of a private astronaut is anticipated in the fall of 2026,” said CEO Michael Colglazier.
Mike Moses, president of Virgin Galactic’s space division, said the testing process will accelerate because the Delta SpaceShip is based on the company’s previous model, VSS Unity. Tourists first flew on VSS Unity in August 2023.
By the beginning of 2027, the company hopes to operate two flights of the new spacecraft per week. That is an ambitious goal, given the launch failures and accidents that have affected Virgin Galactic in recent years.
In 2007, three workers died in an explosion during a rocket engine test. In 2014, a pilot was killed during a spacecraft test flight.
Similar setbacks have affected other billionaires’ space-tourism plans — at least for now.
