Virgin Galactic sets ticket prices starting at $450,000
Tim Levin | Publié le | Mis à jour le
- Virgin Galactic resumed ticket sales on Thursday, announcing prices starting at $450,000.
- Customers will also be able to buy a package of multiple seats or rent out an entire rocket plane.
- Virgin Galactic aims to start flying tourists to the edge of space in 2022.
- See more stories on Insider's business page .
Hot on the heels of its first successful fully-crewed flight in July , Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic has reopened ticket sales for future trips to the edge of space, the company said Thursday.
Seats start at $450,000 apiece, up from the $200,000-$250,000 the firm charged previously. Virgin Galactic said customers will be able to purchase a multi-seat package so they can fly with friends or family. There will also be the option to buy out a full flight.
A Virgin Galactic spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment on pricing for the latter two options.
On a mission to transport paying tourists to suborbital space for nearly two decades, Virgin Galactic completed its inaugural fully-crewed flight in July when it launched its billionaire founder and three others 55 miles above Earth's surface.
Unlike other private space companies , Virgin Galactic doesn't launch rockets straight up from the ground. Instead, its spacecraft are flown roughly 50,000 feet up by a special jet. The vehicle then detaches before firing up its rocket boosters and starting a near-vertical ascent. Passengers experience a few minutes of weightlessness before the vehicle glides back to Earth for a runway landing.
Roughly 600 people have already purchased tickets worth $200,000-$250,000, Virgin Galactic has said, and another 1,000 have placed deposits for future seats. Tourist flights are set to begin in 2022.
Virgin Galactic announced its second-quarter earnings on Thursday, posting a $56 million adjusted loss. The company announced that its next test flight will take place in September.
Shares of Virgin Galactic spiked 11% in after-hours trading on Thursday.
Via PakApNews