George Whitesides , the former CEO of Virgin Galactic, will participate in the company’s next space flight test .
▲ Former CEO of Virgin Galactic George Whitesides (George Whitesides)
At a party held in New Mexico on July 11, Sir Richard Branson announced the news after Branson had completed his space flight. He thanked Whiteside, who had led Virgin Galactic for 10 years.
A Virgin Bank spokesperson said in a statement that the company has not yet confirmed the details of Unity 23. Whiteside himself did not respond to media requests for comment.
From 2010 to 2020, Whiteside served as the CEO of Virgin Galactic, and then the company hired Michael Colglazier as CEO last year. Currently, Whiteside serves as the chairman of Virgin Galactic’s Space Advisory Board.
Garver said that Whiteside is the only one among the next batch of astronauts mentioned by Branson during the celebration, and three others are expected to join the company’s next space flight test .
The time for the next flight test has not yet been determined , but the company has previously stated that its goal is to complete the next two space flight tests this summer. There is a 50-day interval between the last two space flights of Virgin Galactic, so if the company takes about this long to prepare, then the launch of Whiteside may be at the end of August or early September .
In last Friday’s trading, Virgin Galactic’s stock price fell 4% to close at $29.58.
Up to now, Virgin Galactic has conducted 4 space flight tests . The most recent test was code-named Unity 22. The spacecraft carried the company’s billionaire founder Branson. The company’s leadership has previously announced that it will test fly the VSS Unity spacecraft twice. The first test flight will be four other “mission experts”, and the second test flight will be flight members of the Italian Air Force.
Theoretically, the company’s spacecraft VSS Unity can carry 6 passengers and 2 pilots, but currently the aircraft can only carry 4 passengers , did Virgin Galactic confirm that the space flight with Branson was a ” Fully “launched.”
Virgin Galactic is currently undergoing space flight testing, which is the last step in the development of its aircraft. The company’s goal is to provide passenger flight services in early 2022 . Virgin Galactic has booked about 600 spacecraft seat tickets.
Since Branson successfully flew into space, the stock has fallen from a high of nearly $55 per share to a trading price of nearly $30 per share. Part of the reason for the decline in the stock price was that Virgin Galaxy announced that it would sell up to $500 million in common stock after Branson Space announced the sale of up to $500 million in common stock.
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