Virgin Galactic is bent on sending people on tours of near-space in its upcoming futuristic plane. The proposition may sound far-fetched - but it's really not.
The company plans to launch a manned test flight Oct. 2, according to documents filed Tuesday with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. The spaceflight is the first of two scheduled launches from the Spaceport America in New Mexico that Virgin Galactic proposed as final testing of its SpaceShipTwo vehicle with two test pilots aboard.
The second test will have four "mission specialists" manning the space module, Virgin Galactic said in August. If all goes well, the space tourism operator said its next move might be to have founder Sir Richard Branson as its first passenger - essentially kicking off Virgin Galactic's tourism business. The estimated date of launch is sometime in March.
Virgin Galactic is also looking at testing mothership WhiteKnightTwo in two, four-hour-long journeys starting Oct. 1 and Oct. 7 before it approves the first of the two test flights of the VSS Unity.
Ticket prices for the orbital excursion are $250,000 each - but possibly more. Virgin Galactic's out-of-this-world jaunts are intended for rich enthusiasts seeking bragging rights for having been in space. A recent survey by American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company Cowen Inc. said more than a third of high net worth individuals would be interested in paying for a Virgin Galactic flight.
The survey "highlights a high level of interest among high-net-worth individuals to fly to space at a ticket price of $250,000 or above," analyst Oliver Chen said in August. Shares of Virgin Galactic were down 3.7 percent Friday at $15.92 a share.
Virgin Galactic has reset the timeframe for the first space tourists because of testing requirements and refinements but has said 600 potential "astronauts" had already paid for tickets.
The launch from New Mexico will be Virgin Galactic's first manned spaceflight since February last year when astronaut trainer Beth Moses was the vehicle's first test passenger.
Virgin Galactic is still losing money. In the first half it suffered a net loss of $63 million. The company can't recoup its losses until tickets are sold, analysts said.
