Virgin Galactic Completes Fourth Successful Spaceflight in Four Months

Rhea-AI Summary

Virgin Galactic completes second private astronaut flight 'Galactic 03' with three customers, marking fourth successful spaceflight in four months.

Mission Flew Group of ‘Founder’ Astronauts, Among Virgin Galactic’s First Customers

‘Galactic 04,’ the Company’s Next Commercial Spaceflight Planned for Early October

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) (“Virgin Galactic” or the “Company”) today announced the completion of its second private astronaut flight, ‘Galactic 03.’ The mission flew three of Virgin Galactic’s first customers.

‘Galactic 03’ was Virgin Galactic’s fourth successful spaceflight in the past four months, and the third flight of Virgin Galactic’s inaugural commercial spaceflight season. The flight followed the Company’s first research mission in June and first private astronaut mission in August.

Onboard ’Galactic 03’:

• Astronaut 014 Ken Baxter from the United States of America
• Astronaut 015 Timothy Nash from South Africa, and British Citizen
• Astronaut 016 Adrian Reynard from the United Kingdom

Spaceship VSS Unity was piloted by Commander Nicola Pecile and Pilot Michael Masucci; Chief Astronaut Instructor Beth Moses was also on board. Mothership VMS Eve was piloted by Commander Jameel Janjua and Pilot Kelly Latimer.

‘Galactic 03’ in-flight facts:

• Take-off Time: 8:34 AM MT
• Altitude at Release: 44,867 feet
• Apogee: 55 miles
• Top Speed: Mach 2.95
• Landing Time: 9:36 AM MT

Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic, said: “What a thrilling day for our three new private astronauts and the entire team at Virgin Galactic. It’s an honor to see our ‘Galactic 03’ crew realize their lifelong dreams of spaceflight as they inspire our manifest of Future Astronauts. Each successful flight shows how powerful and personally transformative space travel can be, and we look forward to scaling our operations and making space travel more accessible to people around the world.”

The Company will now proceed with post-flight inspections and analysis in preparation for the next commercial space mission, ‘Galactic 04,’ which is planned for early October.

Press materials may be accessed via the newly launched Virgin Galactic Newsroom at https://press.virgingalactic.com, including:

• Full catalog of hi-res imagery and b-roll from all flights
• Pilot bios

About Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic is an aerospace and space travel company, pioneering human spaceflight for private individuals and researchers with its advanced air and space vehicles. It has developed a spaceflight system designed to connect the world to the love, wonder and awe created by space travel and to offer customers a transformative experience. You can find more information at https://www.virgingalactic.com/.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements regarding our spaceflight systems, scaling of operations, expected flight schedule and window and repeatable access to space are forward-looking statements. The words “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “potential,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “strategy,” “future,” “could,” “would,” “project,” “plan,” “target,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, though not all forward-looking statements use these words or expressions. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the factors, risks and uncertainties included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, as such factors may be updated from time to time in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and the Investor Relations section of our website at www.virgingalactic.com, which could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230908811356/en/

For media inquiries:

Aleanna Crane – Vice President, Communications

news@virgingalactic.com

575.800.4422



Jeff Michael – Communications

news@virgingalactic.com

661.754.4300



For investor inquiries:

Eric Cerny – Vice President, Investor Relations

vg-ir@virgingalactic.com

949.774.7637

Source: Virgin Galactic