NASA and Virgin Galactic are planning a joint project to launch tourist flights into space.
On June 22, NASA and Virgin Galactic signed an agreement to develop a program to train private orbital astronauts. The program aims to find candidates interested in purchasing private flights to the ISS. The project also includes the training of newly minted astronauts, as well as their transportation to the ISS.
At the moment, Virgin Galactic has not yet announced further details of the project or the cost of a private space flight.
Presumably, Virgin Galactic will have to use SpaceX spaceships since, at the moment, Virgin Galactic has only one suborbital SpaceShipTwo. The ship, unfortunately, is not able to send astronauts into space since it has not yet passed the required number of tests.
After Virgin Galactic announced its cooperation with NASA, the company’s share price rose sharply by 20%. The rise in the company’s share price could be the beginning of the rehabilitation of Richard Branson’s empire, as his Virgin company suffered huge losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
