Threading the needle by offering both private space tourism flights and suborbital research opportunities, Virgin Galactic has thus-far managed to prove an economically sustainable business despite decades of skepticism that the company would ever ‘take flight’ (literally or figuratively) and pessimistic predictions ever since their first crewed spaceflight in July 2021.
While they aren’t launching as frequently as their main suborbital semi-space tourism competitor, Blue Origin, they have successfully completed 12 spaceflights including their most recent, ‘Galactic 07,’ the final commercial flight of the VSS Unity, Virgin Galactic’s primary launch vehicle.
As the company moves toward a new phase of business, production has already begun on the vehicles that will replace Unity, which Virgin Galactic is calling Delta class spaceships. The company announced both supplier agreements in 2022 and testing had begun earlier this year… but when will the next Virgin Galactic launch take place?
The History of Virgin Galactic Launches
Virgin Galactic has had a storied past when it comes to launching people to space. Founded by Sir Richard Branson in 2004, the company aimed to be at the forefront of what was once thought to be burgeoning space tourism industry. Before launching its own spacecraft, Virgin Galactic partnered with Scaled Composites, the creators of SpaceShipOne. This vehicle made history in 2004 as the first privately funded spacecraft to reach space, winning the Ansari X Prize.
In 2009, Virgin Galactic unveiled SpaceShipTwo, named VSS Enterprise. Designed for suborbital flights, the spacecraft was built to carry six passengers and two pilots. The project aimed to create a safer, more reliable vehicle based on lessons learned from SpaceShipOne.
The first flight of VSS Enterprise took place in 2010, marking a significant milestone in the testing phase. Over the following years, Virgin Galactic conducted a series of powered and unpowered test flights to evaluate the spacecraft’s performance. However, the program faced a setback in 2014 when VSS Enterprise tragically broke apart during a test flight, resulting in the death of pilot Michael Alsbury and injuries to co-pilot Peter Siebold.
In the aftermath of the accident, Virgin Galactic paused its flight tests to conduct a thorough investigation. The company implemented design modifications and safety improvements, leading to the development of a new spacecraft, VSS Unity. VSS Unity’s first unpowered test flight occurred in December 2016, followed by a series of successful flights leading up to its powered test flight in April 2018.
On July 11, 2021, Virgin Galactic made history with its first fully crewed flight, Unity 22. Sir Richard Branson and five other crew members soared to an altitude of approximately 53 miles (about 86 kilometers), crossing the Kármán line, which is often regarded as the boundary of space (or at least one of them).
Following Unity 22, Virgin Galactic conducted several more crewed flights, including Unity 23 in September 2021, which carried researchers and payloads as part of a commercial mission. Unity 24 was a glide flight test before Unity 25, which marked the company’s return to crewed flights.
In 2023, Virgin Galactic began conducting commercial space flights under the name ‘Galactic 01;’ the company successfully completed flights in the series throughout the second half of 2023 and first half of 2024 before ‘Galactic 07’ in June of this year.
So When is Virgin Galactic’s Next Launch?
At this point, Virgin Galactic is taking a break from flights to focus on construction and testing of their new space vehicles, called the Delta class. Final assembly of Delta class Virgin Galactic vehicles will take place at a new facility in Mesa, Arizona; this compliments design and engineering facilities in Orange County, California, and testing facilities at Mojave in California as well.
Per the company, Delta vehicles are scheduled to be ready to resume commercial spaceflight by 2026, though there will undoubtedly be test flights between now and then. As the company moves toward this new class of flight hardware, we’ll be sure to update this post with details on when and where Virgin Galactic’s next launch will be – whether it’s a glide, test, or commercial flight.
