SpaceShipTwo “Unity” on the runway after an aborted spaceflight take a look at on Dec. 12, 2020.
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic is making ready for its subsequent spaceflight try, with the corporate saying on Monday that it’s going to redo its aborted December flight take a look at as early as Feb. 13.
The house tourism firm mentioned that one of many spaceflight exams key goals “shall be to check the remedial work that has been accomplished since … the onboard laptop halted ignition of the rocket motor.”
“The staff has since carried out the foundation trigger evaluation, accomplished the corrective work required, and carried out intensive floor testing. The subsequent stage shall be to evaluate and confirm this work throughout a rocket-powered flight,” Virgin Galactic mentioned in a press launch.
Shares of Virgin Galactic rose as a lot as 9% in premarket buying and selling from its earlier shut.
Virgin Galactic can even be aiming for every of the unique goals of the December flight try, “together with evaluating components of the client cabin, testing the dwell stream functionality from the spaceship to the bottom, and assessing the upgraded horizontal stabilizers and flight controls throughout the increase section of the flight,” the corporate mentioned.
After the flight take a look at, Virgin Galactic mentioned it’ll “full an in depth knowledge overview” to “inform the following steps within the take a look at flight program.” Previous to the aborted December flight, Virgin Galactic had anticipated to conduct three remaining spaceflight exams earlier than it started business flights. The second and third spaceflight exams had been beforehand deliberate for the primary quarter of 2021.
Subscribe to CNBC PRO for unique insights and evaluation, and dwell enterprise day programming from world wide.
