The four-part docuseries Branson, directed by Chris Smith (100 Foot Wave), debuts in the UK on December 4th on Sky Documentaries and streaming service NOW. Sixteen days before Richard Branson is scheduled to make a potentially historic flight as the first passenger to reach space in his own spacecraft in July 2021, the billionaire entrepreneur sits […]
Sir Richard Branson-backed Virgin Orbit business has won a partnership contract from South Korean investment group, J-Space, to develop a launch site plan, paving the path for expanded space markets and new investor opportunities in South Korea and the surrounding region. The agreement allows the companies to assess candidate spaceport launch sites in South Korea, […]
Virgin Orbit has been rehearsing its launch plans and on June 29th there is a window open to place its client’s satellite into orbit under Virgin’s ‘straight up’ plan. The launch calls for Virgin Orbit to place the US Space Force’s STP-S28A mission and carry payloads for the Department of Defense (DOD) Space Test Programme […]
Space tourism business Virgin Galactic says around 800 would-be “astronauts” have made reservations for one of its sub-orbital flights. That might be the best news for the Sir Richard Branson-backed company which declared a delay to its passenger flights (to Q1/2023) and a net loss of $93 million for Q1 this year ($130 million loss […]
Sir Richard Branson-backed space plane and small satellite launcher Virgin Orbit has reported a downbeat revenue picture for 2021 with just two launches last year (and only one to date in 2022). This translated into a net loss of $157.3 million (€141.5m) for 2021 on $ 7.4 million in revenue. Back in August last year […]
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit rocket plane project has signed a contract with European in-space manufacturing tech start-up Space Forge to launch a Welsh-built small satellite from Cornwall. The satellite will be launched as part of a broader joint UK-US mission to open the country’s first domestic space port in summer 2022 out of Spaceport […]
Sir Richard Branson and Chamath Palihapitiya, the former chairman of Branson’s Virgin Galactic rocket tourism company, who unexpectedly stepped down in February, have been accused of issuing misleading information to shareholders over the company’s share float and how it was financed. The investor lawsuit, filed February 21st by Virgin Galactic shareholder Thomas Spiteri, seeks damages […]
Chamath Palihapitiya, chairman and a member of Virgin Galactic’s board, Is stepping down. He says he wants “to focus on other public company board commitments.” His departure is immediate, says a company statement. As part of the announcement, the Board appointed director Evan Lovell as Interim Chairman until a new chair is in place. Lovell […]
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic Holdings is looking to sell $425 million (and up to $500 million if the response is good) of convertible bonds in a private offering. Virgin Galactic will use the cash to fund working capital and general administrative purposes. The company has next-to-zero income (last year it declared just $3.2 million […]
An Omani scientific satellite will be carried and launched from Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket when it makes its first launch from Cornwall in the UK later this year. The Omani payload, developed by Earth observation specialist Poland-based SatRevolution, will be put into low Earth orbit to collect climate data. The mission is the follow-on to […]