Virgin Galactic

[philw1776]

A Branson vanity project where he went pump & dump when he belatedly realized that there was no there there with the dead end technology.

 

[Nikxice]

A Branson vanity project where he went pump & dump when he belatedly realized that there was no there there with the dead end technology.

Since 2021 Sir Richard has net over a billion dollars selling his stock in SPCE. Agree, recognizing VGs fallible shuttlecock wing design probably set Branson off on his pump and dump racquet.

 

[Grendal]

Virgin Galactic proposes reverse stock split

Virgin Galactic will ask shareholders to approve a reverse stock split intended to boost the falling share price of the suborbital spaceflight company.

spacenews.com

 

[scaesare]

I am Jack's complete lack of surprise...

 

[ecarfan]

From Eric Berger’s latest Rocket Report:

Virgin Galactic executives said they expect to fly their VMS Eve aircraft up to 125 times a year once the company starts commercial service of the Delta spaceplanes, the successor to the existing VSS Unity, in 2026. “The planned increase in flight cadence for our mothership Eve is a game changer when our first two Delta ships enter commercial service,” added Doug Ahrens, chief financial officer of Virgin Galactic. That is a lot to ask of what was originally a developmental aircraft, which started flights in 2008. Eve was never intended to fly this many times, and it seems likely that refurbishment of the plane between launches could become a major bottleneck for Virgin Galactic as it seeks to scale up operations.

A few years ago Virgin said they would be retiring the VMS Eve “mothership” vehicle and would be replacing it with a new design to be built by Boeing and Aurora that could fly more frequently. But the agreement to do that collapsed recently and those companies are suing Virgin.

Here’s a statement from 2023:

Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said, "Our next-generation motherships are integral to scaling our operations. They will be faster to produce, easier to maintain, and will allow us to fly substantially more missions each year."

Now Virgin has reversed itself. So a vehicle that previously was flown not more than once every few months is now going to be flown every few days. Sure, what could go wrong? It’s just launching humans into space, no big deal.

 

[JB47394]

Now Virgin has reversed itself. So a vehicle that previously was flown not more than once every few months is now going to be flown every few days. Sure, what could go wrong? It’s just launching humans into space, no big deal.

I think they wanted the new aircraft because it was going to make numerous flights more cost effective, not that the current aircraft couldn't complete the cycles safely. They'll have to do more inspections, replace more parts, and that will drive down their profit margin per flight.

It's not like they bought the airframe from somebody, or it was built for some other purpose, or it's nearing the end of its service life. It's their Falcon 9, and they wanted their Starship.