Business magnate Richard Branson’s spaceflight company, Virgin Galactic, is set to resume selling tickets worth $450K each to the public. Starting today, it would allow anyone to book a reservation for a space trip later in 2022. Earlier, only the guests who had deposited to be on the waiting list could get a Virgin Galactic ticket.
The breakup of this fare includes a $150K deposit. Passengers will need to pay the remaining amount sometime before the flight. In comparison, this is significantly pricier than the tickets that went on sale between 2005-2014, worth $200-250K each.
As per the official announcement, making a reservation aboard the Virgin Galactic also means joining the Future Astronaut community. Members get special privileges such as “money-can’t-buy experiences, events, trips and space-readiness activities.”
Alongside the news, the spaceflight company also unveiled a brand new identity that is “designed to capture the love, wonder, and awe of the experience of viewing Earth from space.”
Virgin Galactic’s first commercial spaceflight
“We plan to have our first 1,000 customers on board at the start of commercial service later this year, providing an incredibly strong foundation as we begin regular operations and scale our fleet,” said CEO Michael Colglazier. Back in November 2021, the company revealed it had already sold around 700 tickets for its debut commercial take-off.
To get passengers ready, Virgin Galactic will conduct “several days of spaceflight preparedness activities” beforehand. Moreover, the flight would launch from Spaceport America, New Mexico, U. S., with each passenger wearing a fitted Under Armour spacesuit.
Coming to the trip, it will last for about 90 minutes and includes “a signature air launch and Mach-3 boost to space.” Additionally, passengers will be able to experience several minutes of weightlessness. They would also have the chance to soak in the view from above via the spacecraft’s 17 windows.
Notably, Virgin Galactic’s share price shot up by 10% after resuming public ticket sales. There’s a good chance it will rise by a good margin once the flight takes off later this year.
Interestingly, it isn’t the first opportunity of its kind that is available to the public. That’s because Jeff Bezos’s Blur Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX already took commercial passengers to space last year.
