Richard Branson founded Virgin Galactic almost 20 years ago
Billionaire Richard Branson, who is the founder of Virgin Galactic, which operates suborbital commercial flights, said he is no longer going to invest money in it.
“We’re not flush with cash after COVID-19, and Virgin Galactic has $1 billion or so. So she should have enough money to cope with the task on her own,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times. The billionaire added that he remains interested in the company, which, according to him, has shown the viability of the technologies used.
Previously, Virgin Galactic announced that from 2024 it would suspend commercial flights for 18 months and focus on developing a new Delta spacecraft, which should replace Unity. The latter has made 10 successful flights since 2018 and may carry out one or two more at the beginning of 2024.
Space tourist flights every month.
Passengers pay $450 thousand per ticket, but the company remains unprofitable. Virgin Galactic itself has said that it has enough money to continue operating until 2026, but the company may try to attract additional investment in 2025.
Virgin Galactic was founded by Branson in 2004, but only 19 years later the company reached the target of one commercial flight per month.
