On June 8, 2024, hugging the belly of mother ship Eve, VSS Unity, began its final flight, ushering in a new chapter of Virgin Galactic’s space tourism odyssey. In July 2024, the company celebrated the completion of  a new manufacturing facility outside Phoenix, AZ  where they will produce two, next generation spacecraft, beginning Q1 of 2025.

The Delta-class production schedule, and the retirement of the VSS Unity ship, ensures that Virgin Galactic flights will be grounded until at least Q1 of 2027. The company’s ambitions for the new spacecraft are grand, and include a scenario for launching 750 passengers per year with a price tag of $650,000 per ticket. It has been reported that Virgin will need to work through an existing list of  600 passengers who purchased their tickets for between $250,000 to $400,000 before experiencing the anticipated $450 million annual revenue. Needless to say, the manufacturing process as well as a trouble free flight testing program to achieve these goals. Although the initial journey to launching passengers such as myself to space was long, the technologies have improved. With a laser focused program, these goals are not unrealistic.

There are also concerns for the beloved, mothership VMS Eve, which currently is comfortable with one flight per month. To achieve the goal of 750 passengers per year, Eve will be tasked with 3 flights per week. Plans to update the specially designed carrier plane are in the works.