Virgin Galactic unveils new ship for space tourism, another step towards goal of daily flights
- Testing of the VSS Imagine will start soon, after a few glitches and production delays caused by the pandemic
- Virgin Galactic, founded by Richard Branson, hopes to run 400 space flights a year from New Mexico
Virgin Galactic has unveiled its newest spacecraft, VSS Imagine, the first vehicle produced under a new assembly system that’s critical to the company’s goal of offering daily tourism flights to space.
The Imagine “demonstrates progress toward efficient design and production”, the company said. The new manufacturing process will reduce maintenance and enable a quicker flight tempo as the company seeks to “scale the business for the long-term”.
The spacecraft will soon begin ground testing, with glide tests planned this summer at Virgin Galactic’s Spaceport America facility, in New Mexico. Work on a third vehicle, VSS Inspire, was slowed by the pandemic but will be finished next year, when it will begin flight tests, Chief Executive Michael Colglazier said in an interview.
The shiny Imagine features a “mirror-like” exterior coating for thermal protection, Virgin Galactic said.
Virgin Galactic was hit by delays in its path towards customer flights by pandemic-related setbacks and electrical problems on its current spacecraft, VSS Unity. That vessel’s next test flight will be in May, following a failure to launch in December that revealed the issue and led to a revamp of some systems on the vehicle. The glitches also derailed a test flight planned last month.