Virgin Galactic reopens ticket sales in space, soars stock

The space tourism company will resume ticket sales starting Wednesday for $450,000. However, customers can make an initial deposit of $150,000 when ticket sales are open for reservations.

The 90-minute spaceflight includes “several minutes of weightlessness out of the seat,” according to the company’s statement.

Spaceflight reservations include access to the Future Astronaut community, which will give members access to events, trips and space-ready activities prior to their journey.

“We plan to add our first 1,000 customers at the start of commercial service later this year, which provides an incredibly strong base as we continue to grow regular operations,” Chief Executive Officer Michael Colglazier said in a statement. Let’s start and grow your fleet.”

As of last November, the company said it had sold 700 tickets. Current fares are significantly higher than the $200,000- $250,000 paid by some 600 waiting customers from 2005 to 2014.

The announcement gives a big boost to Virgin Galactic, which has sprung up in recent months. After founder Richard Branson made a high-profile flight in July, the company said it would delay starting commercial service to upgrade its space plane. The company also pulled up US regulators last year, forcing it to temporarily ground flights.

Founded in 2004, billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is looking to build on the success of a high-profile test mission last July, in which Branson beat Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos a few days into his billionaire space race.

But Virgin hasn’t flown since. In October it announced it was entering an “enhancement period” to make safety upgrades to its fleet, and pushed back a planned test flight with the Italian Air Force this year.

Shares of Virgin Galactic are down 66% since October, when the company delayed its commercial space travel service to the fourth quarter of 2022.

Its goal of flying its first paying individual customers by the end of 2022 puts it behind its competition in the nascent space tourism sector — Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX — which have already flown commercial passengers.