After flying its founder Richard Branson to space, Virgin Galactic is restarting ticket sales beginning at $450,000, the corporate announced Thursday.
The new price is about double the $200,000 to $250,000 paid by around 600 people that previously booked seats on Virgin’s spaceship, because the company looks to take advantage on the success of last month’s fully-crewed test flight.
Its next flight will are available September and involve members of the Italian Air Force, a paying customer.
“We are excited to announce the reopening of sales effective today,” said CEO Michael Colglazier during a statement, with first dibs getting to people on a roll .
“As we endeavor to bring the wonder of space to a broad global population, we are delighted to open the door to a completely new industry and consumer experience.”
In July, Branson beat Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos to space during a battle between the billionaires.
There will be one further test after the September mission, but then their calendar for launches has not been revealed.
The offerings for patrons will include one seat; multi-seats for couples, friends or family; and a full-flight buyout.
The spaceplane was originally designed to hold six crew, but last month’s flight, which was described as “fully-crewed,” had just four — suggesting this is often the present number.
The company has predicted it’ll eventually run up to 400 flights per annum , and two seats are up for grabs during a prize draw, with registrations open until September 1.
Virgin’s space experience involves an air-launched spaceplane, VSS Unity, that flies attached to the belly of a huge carrier plane from a runway at Spaceport America in New Mexico .
After gaining altitude, the spaceplane detaches from its mothership and ignites its rocket , ascending to beyond 50 miles (80 kilometers) above water level .
Passengers unbuckle and knowledge a couple of minutes of weightlessness before the plane glides back to the runway to land.
The company has come under attack for its carbon footprint, which is roughly like a transatlantic flight except for far fewer people. it’s said it’s examining the likelihood of offsetting its emissions.
