Virgin Galactic carrier aircraft – VMS Eve
British billionaire Richard Branson's company Virgin Galactic has moved the first commercial tourist flight into space from the third to the fourth quarter of next year, and the second test flight of the spacecraft from this year to the following summer.
On Friday, when Virgin Galactic issued a flight rescheduling announcement, the company's shares plunged 20%.
Branson's rival, Amazon founder and American billionaire Jeff Bezos, has already conducted two test flights on his Blue Origin ship, the first in July with his brother and two passengers, and the second this week with two astronauts and a vice president. Blue Origin set off for 90-year-old actor William Shatner, who became the oldest person in space.
- Captain Kirk flies into space. 90-year-old Star Trek actor gets a seat on Bezos's ship
- Billionaire Richard Branson flew to the border with space on his rocket plane
True, the flights of the Bezos company (like that of Branson) are suborbital, that is, the ship “jumps” into space, but does not make orbits around the Earth.
But the main devotee of private astronautics, Elon Musk, in September already sent the first commercial flight into space: billionaire Jared Isaacman paid for three orbits around the Earth on the Dragon shuttle, taking three more people with him.
At the same time, Elon Musk with his company Space X, unlike Branson and Bezos, does not focus on the development of space tourism – for him it is a by-product.
Richard Branson, like Jeff Bezos, himself flew in his ship on the first suborbital flight with passengers – this was in July. But based on Virgin Galactic's Friday announcement, this flight will remain its last for many months.
Virgin Galactic said in a statement that routine testing revealed “possible reductions” in the endurance limits of some of the materials that make up two of the program's aircraft: the VMS Eve launch vehicle and the VSS Unity space shuttle.
Virgin Galactic assures at the same time that everything is in order with the safety of the ship – it is only necessary to clarify what the safety factor should be.
In September, US aviation authorities lifted Virgin Galactic's flight ban, which was imposed after the ship carrying Branson deviated from its permitted landing trajectory in July.
