Space tourism company Virgin Galactic has once again delayed the launch of its commercial space travel services, the company revealed in its latest financial results.
Currently, Virgin Galactic hopes to start commercial space travel services in the second quarter of 2023.
The company had previously planned to launch commercial space travel services in the fourth quarter of 2022 and then in the first quarter of 2023. However, numerous issues caused by the supply chain crisis and labor shortages resulted in additional delays, the company said.
“While our short-term plans now call for commercial service to launch in the second quarter of 2023, progress on our future fleet continues and many of the key elements of our roadmap are now in place to scale the business in a meaningful way,” CEO of Virgin Galactic, Michael Colglazier said.
During the quarter, the company founded by billionaire Richard Branson, reported a widened net loss of $111 million. This compares to a net loss of $94 million in Q2 2021.
On July 11, 2021, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Unity successfully carried a crew of mission specialists as well as Branson to the edge of space.
In February 2022, Virgin Galactic reopened ticket sales for upcoming space travel priced at $450,000 each, including an initial deposit of $150,000.
Space tourism is a fast-emerging market with several competitors, including Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, vying to make vacationing in space an accessible reality.