Importance Score: 70 / 100 🔴
Virgin Galactic Targets 2026 for Return to Suborbital Space Flights
Virgin Galactic, the suborbital space tourism firm, anticipates its hiatus from spaceflight will conclude in approximately two years, assuming all objectives are met. The company suspended operations in June 2024 after the concluding voyage of its VSS Unity space plane. This pause allows Virgin Galactic to concentrate on developing its next-generation “Delta class” spacecraft. These enhanced vehicles, designed to accommodate six passengers, are projected to debut in summer 2026.
Delta Class Spacecraft Development
“A considerable amount of effort is being invested across our firm, and at our essential suppliers,” stated Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier during an investor earnings call on May 15. “We still project our inaugural [Delta] research spaceflight to occur in summer 2026, followed by private astronaut missions in the fall of 2026.”
The earnings call, which detailed Virgin Galactic’s financial results for the first quarter of 2025, also provided several updates.
New Sales Approach and Ticket Pricing
Colglazier mentioned that the company, which currently has around 675 reservation holders, plans to recommence accepting flight reservations in the first quarter of 2026. New patrons will be integrated using a refined “highly tailored education sales process” involving distinct phases.
“This method offers several benefits for customers,” Colglazier elaborated. “Limiting the number of new entrants into our future astronaut group during each phase enables us to deliver an exceptional experience that will establish the groundwork for each customer’s journey to space. From a yield-management standpoint, this allows us to modify our pricing wave by wave.”
While exact ticket costs are yet to be determined, they are expected to exceed the $600,000 paid by the most recent clientele, he noted.
Increased Flight Cadence
Virgin Galactic is actively constructing two Delta-class spacecraft and intends to expand the fleet progressively. Once the initial vehicle is operational, the company anticipates a significant increase in flight frequency. Each new space plane is engineered to fly twice weekly, according to Colglazier—a substantial enhancement compared to VSS Unity, which conducted seven commercial passenger flights from June 2023 until its decommissioning a year later.
Air-Launch Strategy
Virgin Galactic continues to utilize an air-launch approach. Similar to VSS Unity, each Delta craft will launch from a runway attached to a carrier aircraft. The carrier will release the spaceship at a specific altitude. The spacecraft will then activate its rocket engine, independently ascend to suborbital space, and return to Earth, landing on the same runway from which it departed.
Exploring Multipurpose Carrier Aircraft
In the previous quarter’s earnings discussion, Virgin Galactic suggested the potential for the carrier aircraft to serve multiple purposes—transporting payloads other than a space plane. The company has continued to investigate this potential variation, known as HALE (“High Altitude Long Endurance”)-Heavy, over the past few months.
Potential Government Applications
“Since last quarter, we’ve engaged with leaders within the Department of Defense, national laboratories, and aerospace and defense firms to determine the possible product-market fit of our existing carrier aircraft’s capabilities with government customer needs,” Colglazier stated.
“We’ve been encouraged by preliminary feedback, which has identified existing and growing missions that could gain from HALE-Heavy support aircraft access,” he added. “These missions may encompass airborne research and development testing; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support; command and control node capabilities; and numerous possibilities within the emerging Golden Dome [missile defense] initiative.”
Expansion to New Spaceports
Currently, all of Virgin Galactic’s suborbital flights have taken off from Spaceport America in New Mexico. The company is considering operating from a secondary location, potentially in either Europe or the Middle East.
Colglazier reported progress on this objective during the May 15th update.
“We are in the middle of our feasibility study with the Italian government for a spaceport in southern Italy,” he noted.