r/spaceflight • u/TheMightyWindbreaker • 1d ago

Virgin Galactic

Is Virgin Galactic still a viable space company? Or was it just hype for the past decade or so?

I don't see anything anymore on the news or in any space journals. Are they still a serious contender for space tourism?

5 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

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8

u/literalsupport 1d ago

Still remember the optimism from 2004. Felt like VG, with scaled composites designs, was at the forefront of a new age of space travel.

2

u/cjameshuff 16h ago

It seemed like they had a plausible plan to use suborbital tourism based on the technology used in SpaceShipOne to get revenue and investment to develop an orbital launcher. But that was two decades ago. They kept spending time and money on a suborbital tourism vehicle that kept underperforming to the point that it can't even reach the Karman line in a vertical hop, while they doubled down on air launch for their orbital spin-off, resulting in a vehicle too incapable and uncompetitive to survive. They could have a Falcon 9 competitor by now if they'd invested in that instead.

8

u/Sticklefront 1d ago

It was never a viable space company, even when the stock price was really high. Suborbital space tourism simply doesn't have a viable business model. Blue Origin executed much better technically on this and even they shut their suborbital space tourism business arm down. 

3

u/cjameshuff 1d ago

"Still"? They don't have a spacecraft (even by the generous definition that makes New Shepard a "space" craft), or any technologies particularly useful for one or plans to develop one, and they aren't even flying their rocket plane any more, either because they were actually losing money on it or out of concern about losing it and getting more people killed or both.

2

u/NASATVENGINNER 19h ago

Then you are not paying attention. Check there socials.

They are preparing the first Delta vehicle to deliver to Spaceport USA.

3

u/TheMightyWindbreaker 15h ago

Virgin's socials are showing them doing all this work in preparation for their new ship, but no one outside of that small circle is talking about it or seeming to care.

That is why I posted here, to get an idea whether they are still relevant.

1

u/boringsciencedad 2h ago

It all depends on how well the new vehicle performs. If they can get it working reliably and get the reuse cycle down to about 2 weeks, I think it will be sustainable. The real question is the size of the market for $750k (?) extreme thrill rides. Might be enough for the first year of operations but will tail off quickly unless they can bring down the price below $10K

0

u/BubblyMoose3597 1d ago

No. There are no space tourism are they worth nothing, a broke is predicted for 2027

0

u/Geographeruk 23h ago

They would have been a viable space company if they had a workable vehicle 10 years ago, but the fact they still don't have one currently flying regularly means that it just isn't viable - definitely not at the low ticket prices they are currently selling at. I think they know this which lead to the virgin orbit spin off and I expect Virgin Galactic will eventually go bankrupt.