Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has announced it will finally start commercial space operations later this month, ending a 19-year slog that has been plagued by accidents and technical challenges.
The first commercial flight would take place between June 27 and June 30 and take three members of the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council of Italy to the edge of space to conduct experiments in microgravity, the company said on Thursday. It said the next flight was scheduled for early August, with launches taking place monthly after that.
The planned launch comes two years after Wall Street’s enthusiasm peaked with a race between Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to turn space tourism into a commercial reality.
Read the full story on the Financial Times here.