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The VSS Unity spacecraft transported three citizens to the edge of space Thursday.
Courtesy Virgin Galactic
The space tourism business is finally gaining some traction.
Pioneer of space tourism
Virgo galaxy
(bar: SPCE) flew Three passengers to the edge of space on Thursday, allowing them to experience weightlessness and look at Earth from an unusual vantage point.
The flight, which took off from the US Virgin spaceport in New Mexico, can be seen here.
It was Galactic Flight 02. in late june, Flight 01 Members of the Italian Air Force and the scientific community took over.
Virgo galaxy
The stock has actually fallen about 29% since it began serving space tourism with Flight 01. Stocks have risen 40% in the month leading up to the flight. Sometimes investors sell the news.
Galaxy reported in the second quarter results On the first of August. Sales were approximately $2 million, driven by Flight 01. The company expects sales of approximately $1 million in the third and fourth quarters. Wall Street expects about $29 million in sales for 2024.
The business uses about $125 million in cash each quarter. Virgin Galactic is still in the starting position. It has nearly $1 billion on books to fund the growth of its business.
Virgin Galactic has taken much longer to get off the ground than expected. When the company was raising money in 2019expected 2023 sales of 590 million dollars Drawn from 270 flights.
But access to space is difficult and a series of technical and organizational delays has stunted growth. The delays affected stocks, too. The stock is still down about 95% from the all-time highs it reached roughly in 2021.
Virgin shares were up 1.6% in midday trading after the successful flight. the
Standard & Poor’s 500
And
NASDAQ Composite
They increased by 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively.
Perhaps investors are waiting for a day when they don’t have to monitor the impact of each flight on stocks. This would be a sign that the space tourism business is maturing.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
