Virgin Galactic Sets Commercial Launch Date as Modern-Day Space Race Heats Up

First flight for paying customers comes as Blue Origin’s New Shepard remains sidelined.

Friday, June 16, 2023 at 02:17 PM ET

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The view from space aboard Virgin Galactic’s Unity 25 mission, which was completed successfully in May. [Courtesy: Virgin Galactic]

Key Takeaways:

The commercial space race is intensifying, with Virgin Galactic poised to launch its first commercial spaceflight ("Galactic 01") in late June and initiate monthly missions.
This move comes as its primary competitor, Blue Origin, has its commercial operations sidelined until late 2023 due to a 2022 flight mishap and FAA grounding.
Both companies offer similar suborbital space tourism experiences, and Virgin Galactic's upcoming launch will serve as a critical test for its market position and potential to take the lead.

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More than half a century after the U.S. and Russia faced off to land the first man on the moon, there’s a new kind of Space Race on the horizon—and it’s heating up.

As Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin contends with a mishap on an uncrewed 2022 New Shepard flight that has sidelined commercial operations until later this year, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic on Thursday announced it’s gearing up for its first commercial spaceflight later this month. The mission, “Galactic 01,” is slated to carry three crew members of Italy’s Air Force and National Research Council into orbit between June 27 and 30.