DOCSLIB.ORG

Richard Branson's Space Line Is Flight-Testing for a 2014 Virgin Galactic Launch. After That: Mars by Adam Higginbotham

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Richard Branson's Space Line Is Flight-Testing for a 2014 Virgin Galactic Launch. After That: Mars by Adam Higginbotham RICHA R D BR A NSON ’s SPACE LINE IS FLIGHT-TESTING FOR A 2014 VIRGIN U P GALACTIC LAUNCH. AFTER THAT: MARS by ADAM HIGGINBOTHAM photography: CHRIS CRISMAN OMETIMES it almost seems to disappear into the desert. Conceived as a conjuring trick of architecture and topography, the Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space rises in a sinuous curve from the harsh New Mexico dust, its steel surfaces weathered into a red- brown mirage on the horizon; at twilight, the silhouette of the world’s first purpose- built commercial spaceport melts slowly into the ridgeline of the San Andres moun- tains, 30 kilometres away. The route that the package-tour astro- nauts of tomorrow will take through the building has been meticulously devised by the architects of Foster + Partners to fore- shadow the journey they will make into space: a concrete ramp ascends gently towards the centre of the building – a nar- row, hooded cleft that even in the blind- ing southwestern sunshine forms a small rectangle of perfect darkness. A mag- netic tag worn by each passenger triggers heavy steel doors that will open into a nar- row and dimly lit passageway, the walls curving out towards another blackened doorway, and a catwalk with views of the 4,300-square-metre hangar four storeys below, housing the fleet of spacecraft in which they will travel. And then, the finale: the last set of doors swings open into the astronaut lounge, a vast, open space filled with natural light from an elliptical wall of windows, offer- ing a panorama of the three-kilometre- long spaceport runway, and the sky beyond. The effect is just as the architects intended: although the building is not yet complete, as spaceports, but the New Mexico complex of a billion dollars (£155 million); engineers has been paid for by the state of New Mex- SPACEPORT AMERICA when a group of prospective space tourists – Spaceport America – is the only one built have paved 16 kilometres of road simply to ico, whose citizens voted for a sales tax (ABOVE) The fuTURISTic building THAT will house virgin gALACTic, in new mexicO was brought to it, they found the experience from scratch and designed to accommodate connect the site to the outside world; the designed to finance its construction. so overwhelming they were moved to tears. a regular passenger service. It was raised bill for the runway alone will eventually On a cold November morning, Christine MOON FLIGHTS Yet there remains a great deal at stake from nothing on an isolated plain 50km from be $37m. And, although the building at its Anderson, the former US Air Force offi- (LEFT) in 1968, The founder of pan am, juAN TRIPPE, beGan selling The promise of flighTS out here in the desert. There are now nine the nearest town. Creating it has not been centre bears Virgin Galactic’s name and was cial now charged with bringing Spaceport To The moon. TICKETs would be $14,000 and locations in the United States designated cheap: to date it has cost almost a quarter designed to the company’s requirements, it America to life, stands on a wind-whipped 98,000 signed up, expeCTing To TRAvel by 2000 0 0 0 access road near the Gateway to Space. fact that space tourism had become possi- projects, Will Whitehorn, attempted to reg- at Mojave, a cluster of dun-coloured cor- The Spaceship Company and a scat- “This is the beginning of the commercial ble – yet only for those who were absurdly ister the Virgin identity for use by a space- rugated steel buildings scattered along a tering of engineers from experimental- passenger space-line industry,” she says. wealthy – brought him to a more profound line at Companies House in London, he concrete airstrip in the desert a few kilo- aircraft manufacturers Scaled Compos- Anderson’s crews are on target to complete realisation. “What I regretted more was discovered someone had beaten him to it. metres from Edwards Air Force Base. ites. They’re the ones who have spent their work by the end of 2013; Virgin Galac- that neither Russia nor America was really Branson had quietly trademarked the brand He is here to mark Virgin’s final acqui- much of the last ten years building the tic plans a regular service – launching daily that interested in enabling the millions for use in space more than a decade earlier. sition of its dedicated spacecraft-manu- prototype of the world’s first spaceliner, flights into space – for the start of 2014. of people who would love to go to space Wearing black pilot’s overalls bear- facturing arm, The Spaceship Company in another giant shed on the other side of Anderson is optimistic about the future: to have the opportunity to do so.” After- ing a winged design and a patch embroi- (corporate motto: “We Build Space- Mojave airport known as Building 75. daily suborbital passenger flights will be fol- wards, he began canvassing people about dered with his name, Sir Richard Branson ships”). The newly painted building Branson and Scaled Composites’ nota- lowed by point-to-point intercontinental the idea. “I said, ‘If you had the chance to emerges from a hangar on the outskirts of behind him is the Final Assembly Inte- bly eccentric founder, Burt Rutan, go back travel that will traverse the globe in the time go to space, and were pretty sure it would Mojave Air and Spaceport in California. gration and Test Hangar – or, in the best a long way. Rutan made his reputation it takes to watch an in-flight movie; trips be a return ticket – and you could afford it Above him, the building has been recently acronym-friendly traditions of out of the Earth’s atmosphere will become – how many of you would go?’ And 95 per painted with the Virgin Galactic eye logo. spaceflight, “Faith” – where the as commonplace as taking a bus. “I hope,” corbis rocket): otary As he crosses the concrete apron of the company’s fleet of new vehicles cent of people would stick their hands up.” r Richard Branson says later, “it’s the begin- In 1995, following a conversation with hangar, he carries under his arm a card- will be put together. Gathered GEORGE WHITESIDES ning of a whole new era in space travel.” Buzz Aldrin, Branson began seriously board cutout of the six-seat Virgin space- around Branson on the Tarmac VIRGIN GALACTic’S CEO (BELOW) is alsO A FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF AT NASA. BEFORE JOINING THE But before any of that can happen, Virgin exploring the potential for democratising craft, known as SpaceShipTwo. Today is a to have their picture taken are COMPANY, whiTESIDES HAD BEEN ONE OF THE EARLY Galactic will have to build a rocket that flies. space travel. But when his head of special ( photography lightning-quick corporate meet-and-greet 200 staff from Virgin Galactic, TICKET BUYERS FOR A TRIP INTO SPACE PASSENGER space travel has been a staple ROTARY ROCKET of sci-fi for almost as long as there have DEsigned To fly verTICALLY INTo spAce and bAck, using been commercial airlines – the prefigur- ROTOR-Tip peroxide jeTs, THE ing of a frictionless future never more ROTon aTMOspheric TEST perfectly visualised than in the opening vehicle was bUILT in THE MOJAve deSERT in 1999. THEN scenes of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space The moST promising cONCEPT, Odyssey, where a white-turbaned Pan Am IT was a reUSable 18-meTRE stewardess dispenses snacks in zero G, en CRAFT. BRANSon cONSIDERED IT for commercial spACE route to an orbiting Hilton hotel. And by TRAvel bUT The cOMPany wenT the time Kubrick’s film was released in BUST shorTLy afTERWARDS 1968, the real Pan American – corporate pioneers who had flown the first transat- lantic and trans-Pacific commercial ser- vices – had already opened a waiting list fizzled away. “I definitely thought that for trips to the Moon. They estimated the one day soon we’d all be doing it,” he says. service would begin no later than 2000, And yet, he says, he could still have made and began issuing numbered member- a pleasure trip into orbit in the late 80s, ship cards for their First Moon Flights before anyone else on Earth. club. It was part corporate optimism, By then, Branson was already one of the born of a confidence in the technology world’s richest men, proprietor of his own of the high frontier, and part publicity airline, and exploring a popular sideline stunt. Galvanised by the Moon landing in daredevil brand-building – transatlan- the following year, 98,000 people world- tic powerboat rides, record-breaking bal- wide eventually signed up; one tried to loon trips – when he took a call from the guarantee his seat by sending a deposit USSR’s ambassador in London. Mikhail cheque for $1 million (£620,000). Gorbachev, the ambassador explained, But the euphoria of Apollo 11 didn’t last had a proposition for him: how would he long. Nasa slashed its lunar-exploration like to become the first tourist in space? programme, and in 1971 a similarly cash- It would require 18 months’ training at strapped Pan Am closed the waiting list; Star City outside Moscow, and came with when the airline finally went bankrupt in a significant catch: “It would cost $50m or 1991, the First Moon Flights club became a something,” Branson says. The price was a mocking footnote to the company’s obitu- problem. “I just felt that to spend that sort ary, a bellwether of fatal corporate hubris. of money going to space, people just might Now 62, his blond mane steadily feel it was a bit of a waste.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Press Release
    National Aeronautic Association FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: David Ivey, 703-527-0226 E-Mail: [email protected] SpaceShipOne Team Named 2004 Collier Trophy Winner Arlington, VA – SpaceShipOne, the first-ever privately financed, manned spacecraft has won the prestigious Robert J. Collier Trophy Monday, taking its place alongside the greatest advances in aviation history. The Collier Trophy has been awarded each year since 1911 by the National Aeronautic Association “for the greatest achievement in aviation in America…” SpaceshipOne went into space for the first time on June 21, 2004, when Mike Melvill piloted the craft 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, an altitude considered to be the beginning of space. In the fall of last year, SS1 made a pair of return trips to space within a week of each other to earn the $10 million Ansari X-Prize, given to the first team to prove that civilian manned spaceflight is feasible. The amazing vehicle was designed and built by a small firm in Mojave, California, Scaled Composites, LLC, which was founded in 1982 by aircraft designer Burt Rutan. The cost of the project, about $26 million, was covered by investor Paul G. Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft. Capable of carrying a pilot and two passengers to space, SS1 is made primarily of graphite and epoxy. It reaches space much like a rocket would, traveling straight up at many times the speed of sound after being released from its carrier ship, White Knight. It featured the revolutionary idea of a “carefree” re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, by reconfiguring its wings, which are then moved back into position to allow the pilot to glide the craft back to Earth.
    [Show full text]
  • NASA Armstrong X-Press April 2020
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration Volume 62 Number 3 April 2020 AFRC2020-0058-032 NASA/Carla Thomas NASA Armstrong engineer Mike Buttigieg works on an oxygen hood system prototype worn by Dr. Daniel Khodabakhsh from the Antelope Valley Hospital. The hood is designed to help coronavirus patients who don’t yet need a ventilator, but who are experiencing breathing troubles. The hood forces oxygen into patients with mild coronavirus symptoms, minimizing the likelihood that the patient will need to use a ventilator. Lending a hand Center assists community COVID-19 response www.nasa.gov/ Return to center plans begin, page 2 X-Press April 2020 Successful partnership By Teresa Whiting next week at TSC’s Faith Facility in NASA Armstrong Public Affairs Mojave. NASA Armstrong has joined “I’ve been inspired by the forces with an Antelope Valley teamwork shown by the Antelope task force to build medical devices Valley task force in response to the to help patients with coronavirus. challenge of COVID-19. Now more Armstrong partnered with than ever, it is crucial that we share Antelope Valley Hospital, knowledge, skills and collaborate,” Lancaster, Virgin Galactic, said Virgin Galactic CEO George The Spaceship Company and Whitesides. “By producing several Antelope Valley College to innovative health solutions for develop innovative ideas to solve regional hospitals over a few possible shortages of critical weeks, we are protecting health medical equipment. care workers on the front lines “NASA is more than scientists, while improving patient care. It is engineers and explorers. We truly showing the best of American are neighbors and members of public-private cooperation.” AFRC2020-0059-024 NASA/Carla Thomas communities across the country,” The device, developed byNASA engineer Mike Buttigieg works on the Aerospace Valley Positive Pres- said NASA Administrator Jim NASA engineer Mike Buttigieg, sure Helmet, a device successfully tested by Antelope Valley Hospital doctors.
    [Show full text]
  • Burt Rutan Got His Educational Start at Cal Poly
    California Polytechnic State University Sept. 29, 2004 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Teresa Hendrix Public Affairs (805) 756-7266 Media Advisory: Burt Rutan Got His Educational Start at Cal Poly To: News, science, higher education, engineering and feature writers and editors From: Cal Poly -- California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California Re: SpaceShipOne designer, Voyager designer Burt Rutan If you are working on biography stories or feature stories about aeronautical design pioneer Burt Rutan, you may want to mention Rutan is a graduate of Cal Poly’s nationally-recognized College of Engineering. Burt Rutan graduated from Cal Poly in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering. His Senior Project won the national student paper competition of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics that year. Rutan was awarded Cal Poly's first honorary doctorate in 1987. Rutan's SpaceShipOne made history again this morning (Sept. 29) attaining a height of 67 miles during a flight over the Mojave Desert. Piloted by Mike Melvill, SpaceShipOne again landed safely. Watch the launch on the Ansari X-Prize Web site:http://web1-xprize.primary.net/launch.php Read about it in the Los Angeles Times. In its maiden spaceflight n June 2004, the craft landed safely in the Mojave Desert after flying into space, reaching an altitude of 62.5 miles. Rutan has partnered with Microsoft's Paul Allen to create the first private aircraft to travel into space in a quest to claim the $10 million prize in the Ansari X-Flight competition. This week, British billionaire Richard Branson announced plans to buy a fleet of Rutan's aircraft to begin offering commercial flights to the edge of space.
    [Show full text]
  • Future Space Launch Vehicles
    Future Space Launch Vehicles S. Krishnan Professor of Aerospace Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Madras Chennnai - 600 036, India (Written in 2001) Introduction Space technology plays a very substantial role in the economical growth and the national security needs of any country. Communications, remote sensing, weather forecasting, navigation, tracking and data relay, surveillance, reconnaissance, and early warning and missile defence are its dependent user-technologies. Undoubtedly, space technology has become the backbone of global information highway. In this technology, the two most important sub-technologies correspond to spacecraft and space launch vehicles. Spacecraft The term spacecraft is a general one. While the spacecraft that undertakes a deep space mission bears this general terminology, the one that orbits around a planet is also a spacecraft but called specifically a satellite more strictly an artificial satellite, moons around their planets being natural satellites. Cassini is an example for a spacecraft. This was developed under a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. Cassini spacecraft, launched in 1997, is continuing its journey to Saturn (about 1274 million km away from Earth), where it is scheduled to begin in July 2004, a four- year exploration of Saturn, its rings, atmosphere, and moons (18 in number). Cassini executed two gravity-assist flybys (or swingbys) of Venus one in April 1998 and one in June 1999 then a flyby of Earth in August 1999, and a flyby of Jupiter (about 629 million km away) in December 2000, see Fig. 1. We may note here with interest that ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) is thinking of a flyby mission of a spacecraft around Moon (about 0.38 million km away) by using its launch vehicle PSLV.
    [Show full text]
  • Update for MVEDA Meeting
    Update for MVEDA Meeting Jonathan Firth, Executive Vice President VG Las Cruces, NM – Star Date: April 3rd 2018 Virgin Galactic’s business aim is to transform access to space for the benefit of life on Earth 4 More frequent More responsive More affordable More reliable Most Safe Virgin Galactic’s business aim is to transform access to space for the benefit of life on Earth Virgin aims to transform access to space in two markets Suborbital: Orbital: SpaceShipTwo LauncherOne Personal Spaceflight Small Satellite Research Launch Flights Virgin’s Space Portfolio at a Glance • Virgin Galactic was set up in 2004 to be world’s first commercial spaceline • Three business areas now – separate companies: • Virgin Galactic: Suborbital spaceflight for people & research • Virgin Orbit: Orbital satellite launch (SSO / LEO) • The Spaceship Company: Vehicle manufacture and flight test Virgin’s Space Portfolio at a Glance • Virgin Galactic was set up in 2004 to be world’s first commercial spaceline • Three business areas now – separate companies: • Virgin Galactic: Suborbital spaceflight for people & research • Virgin Orbit: Orbital satellite launch (SSO / LEO) • The Spaceship Company: Vehicle manufacture and test • Each company carries out its own: design, engineering, manufacturing, testing and flight operations Aims: frequent flights, responsive, lower cost, high safety/reliability Virgin Galactic will operate from the ‘Gateway to Space’ facility at Spaceport America in New Mexico VG’s Economic Impact in New Mexico to date 33 + 85 + local hires / 5 years 10 VG’s Economic Impact in New Mexico to date VG now has 33 full time employees permanently based at its Las Cruces, NM office, with various other employees cycling through from our Mojave, CA facility on a regular basis, and a plan to transition at least 85 employees permanently from Mojave to New Mexico before the start of operations.
    [Show full text]
  • Commercial Orbital Transportation Services
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration Commercial Orbital Transportation Services A New Era in Spaceflight NASA/SP-2014-617 Commercial Orbital Transportation Services A New Era in Spaceflight On the cover: Background photo: The terminator—the line separating the sunlit side of Earth from the side in darkness—marks the changeover between day and night on the ground. By establishing government-industry partnerships, the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program marked a change from the traditional way NASA had worked. Inset photos, right: The COTS program supported two U.S. companies in their efforts to design and build transportation systems to carry cargo to low-Earth orbit. (Top photo—Credit: SpaceX) SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket on May 22, 2012, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Second photo) Three days later, the company successfully completed the mission that sent its Dragon spacecraft to the Station. (Third photo—Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls) Orbital Sciences Corp. sent its Antares rocket on its test flight on April 21, 2013, from a new launchpad on Virginia’s eastern shore. Later that year, the second Antares lifted off with Orbital’s cargo capsule, (Fourth photo) the Cygnus, that berthed with the ISS on September 29, 2013. Both companies successfully proved the capability to deliver cargo to the International Space Station by U.S. commercial companies and began a new era of spaceflight. ISS photo, center left: Benefiting from the success of the partnerships is the International Space Station, pictured as seen by the last Space Shuttle crew that visited the orbiting laboratory (July 19, 2011). More photos of the ISS are featured on the first pages of each chapter.
    [Show full text]
  • Space Planes and Space Tourism: the Industry and the Regulation of Its Safety
    Space Planes and Space Tourism: The Industry and the Regulation of its Safety A Research Study Prepared by Dr. Joseph N. Pelton Director, Space & Advanced Communications Research Institute George Washington University George Washington University SACRI Research Study 1 Table of Contents Executive Summary…………………………………………………… p 4-14 1.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………………….. p 16-26 2.0 Methodology…………………………………………………………………….. p 26-28 3.0 Background and History……………………………………………………….. p 28-34 4.0 US Regulations and Government Programs………………………………….. p 34-35 4.1 NASA’s Legislative Mandate and the New Space Vision………….……. p 35-36 4.2 NASA Safety Practices in Comparison to the FAA……….…………….. p 36-37 4.3 New US Legislation to Regulate and Control Private Space Ventures… p 37 4.3.1 Status of Legislation and Pending FAA Draft Regulations……….. p 37-38 4.3.2 The New Role of Prizes in Space Development…………………….. p 38-40 4.3.3 Implications of Private Space Ventures…………………………….. p 41-42 4.4 International Efforts to Regulate Private Space Systems………………… p 42 4.4.1 International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety… p 42-43 4.4.2 The International Telecommunications Union (ITU)…………….. p 43-44 4.4.3 The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).. p 44 4.4.4 The European Aviation Safety Agency…………………………….. p 44-45 4.4.5 Review of International Treaties Involving Space………………… p 45 4.4.6 The ICAO -The Best Way Forward for International Regulation.. p 45-47 5.0 Key Efforts to Estimate the Size of a Private Space Tourism Business……… p 47 5.1.
    [Show full text]
  • Announcing the Aspiring Space Industry Leaders Selected for the 2020 Class of the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 11, 2020 [email protected] ANNOUNCING THE ASPIRING SPACE INDUSTRY LEADERS SELECTED FOR THE 2020 CLASS OF THE MATTHEW ISAKOWITZ FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM Thirty College anD GraDuate StuDents Chosen for Highly-Selective Fellowship PrograM that Connects Exceptional InDiviDuals with Internships anD Mentors in the CoMMercial Spaceflight Sector The Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program—a summer internship and executive mentorship program inspiring the next generation of commercial spaceflight leaders—announces the 30 individuals selected for its 2020 class. Now in its third year, this highly-selective program awards exceptional college juniors, seniors, and graduate students pursuing aerospace careers with paid internships at cutting-edge commercial space companies around the nation. Fellows also receive one-on-one mentorship from accomplished members of the space community, including astronauts, engineers, entrepreneurs, executives, investors, and others. The program culminates in a memorable two-day summit in Los Angeles during which the Fellows will network with top leaders in the industry, visit space start-ups, and develop entrepreneurial skills. For the 2020 class, the program received more than 130 applications from 68 colleges in 25 states. From that list, program coordinators rigorously screened the applicants for academic excellence, relevant experience, and, most importantly, a demonstrated passion for innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercial space. Upon completing the summer internship, the Fellows will remain among an elite group of alumni who will have the opportunity to continue to network with this Program, assigned mentors, and past and future Fellows, on the path to becoming future space icons. See below for the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program’s Class of 2020, including each Fellow’s current school and Summer 2020 host company.
    [Show full text]
  • Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc
    UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 ____________________________ FORM 10-K ☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2020 or ☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the transition period from _____ to _____ Commission File Number: 001-38202 ____________________________ Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) __________________________ Delaware 85-3608069 (State or other jurisdiction of (I.R.S. Employer incorporation or organization) Identification Number) 166 North Roadrunner Parkway, Suite 1C Las Cruces, New Mexico 88011 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code) (575) 424-2100 (Registrant's telephone number, including area code) __________________________ Securities registered pursuant to section 12(b) of the Act: Name of each exchange on which Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) registered Common stock, $0.0001 par value per share SPCE New York Stock Exchange Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None __________________________ Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒ Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.
    [Show full text]
  • Seeds of Discovery: Chapters in the Economic History of Innovation Within NASA
    Seeds of Discovery: Chapters in the Economic History of Innovation within NASA Edited by Roger D. Launius and Howard E. McCurdy 2015 MASTER FILE AS OF Friday, January 15, 2016 Draft Rev. 20151122sj Seeds of Discovery (Launius & McCurdy eds.) – ToC Link p. 1 of 306 Table of Contents Seeds of Discovery: Chapters in the Economic History of Innovation within NASA .............................. 1 Introduction: Partnerships for Innovation ................................................................................................ 7 A Characterization of Innovation ........................................................................................................... 7 The Innovation Process .......................................................................................................................... 9 The Conventional Model ....................................................................................................................... 10 Exploration without Innovation ........................................................................................................... 12 NASA Attempts to Innovate .................................................................................................................. 16 Pockets of Innovation............................................................................................................................ 20 Things to Come ...................................................................................................................................... 23
    [Show full text]
  • Virgin Galactic Announces Third Quarter 2020 Financial Results First
    Virgin Galactic Announces Third Quarter 2020 Financial Results First Spaceflight from Spaceport America Expected to Occur Between November 19-23 Rollout of Second Spaceship Scheduled to Take Place in the First Quarter of 2021 Reopening Ticket Sales in 2021 Following Sir Richard Branson’s Spaceflight LAS CRUCES, N.M. – November 5, 2020 – Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) (“Virgin Galactic” or the “Company”), a vertically integrated aerospace and space travel company, today announced its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2020. “During the quarter we made good progress completing the final steps to prepare for VSS Unity’s first rocket powered test flight from Spaceport America this November. This will be the first-ever human spaceflight conducted from New Mexico,” said Michael Colglazier, Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Galactic. “We also made meaningful progress on our second SpaceShipTwo vehicle, which we plan to unveil in the first quarter of 2021. During my first three months at the Company, I have been continually impressed with the team and the tremendous work that has gone into making the dream of commercial spaceflight a reality. As we continue to prepare for commercial launch, we will reopen ticket sales following Richard Branson’s flight in 2021. I am excited and confident in our ability to execute our vision and provide transformative experiences to people around the world.” Third Quarter 2020 Business Highlights: • Completed the application of the thermal protection system on the Wing and Fuselage, progressed on systems installation, and successfully completed the initial Pilot Simulator evaluations of the second SpaceShipTwo vehicle, in preparation for its expected rollout in the first quarter of 2021.
    [Show full text]
  • 2004 Program
    FRIDAY, 1 APRIL 2005 1515-1545 SATURDAY, 27 MARCH 2004 “Discovery of a Critical Engine 0900-0930 1300 during Vmc Testing for a “F/A—18 E/F High AOA Testing” WELCOME Symmetrically Loaded Steve Potter, (Who does he work Twin Engine Jet” for?) Doug Shane (F) Mike Wallace (M), Boeing LT Bill Thames, USN (M) 0930-1000 Scaled Composites Pete Dougherty, NAVAIR “Icing Development and SETP President Certification Flight Testing— 1545-1615 Cessna’s Lessons Learned” Maurice Girard (M), Cessna Brian Binnie (AF) “T-45 Stability Augmented Steering System” Bob Rice (M), Cessna Scaled Composites LCDR Allen Blocker, USN 1000-1030 COFFEE BREAK Symposium Chairman Christina Stack, Dept. of the Navy 1030-1100 TECHNICAL SESSIONS “VAAC Harrier Testing for JCA” Sqn Ldr, Glenn Littlejohns, RN 1315-1345 ‘SETP Historical Paper— 1100-1130 Formation of SETP” John Fitzpatrick (F) SETP HAWAIIAN LUAU 1345-1415 A luau buffet will be served on 1200 LUNCH ON THE BEACH “Panoramic Night the hotel beach at 6:00pm, Vision Goggles followed by a spectacular Maj Trey Rawls, USAF (AM) Hawaiian show at 8:15pm. SETP BANQUET When the show ends, guests Guest Speaker 1415-1445 COFFEE BREAK can remain on the beach to The Honorable John E. Krings (F) socialize, or join SETP “TEST PILOT…...the REAL right stuff! 1445-1515 President Doug Shane for “Global Flyer” cocktails in the Marquesa A no-host cocktail reception will John Karkow (M) Suite (#308) begin at 6:30pm in the second floor Scaled Composites foyer, with the Banquet at 7:30pm. CORPORATE MEMBERS THE SOCIETY OF EXPERIMENTAL TEST PILOTS BOARD OF DIRECTORS THE SOCIETY Adam Aircraft Industries Advanced Information Engineering Advanced Systems Research, Inc Aermacchi S.p.A.
    [Show full text]