Got $450K? Virgin Galactic to Open Space Flight Ticket Sales This Week
One ticket to outer space, please. After last year's delay, Virgin Galactic will open space travel reservations to the general public tomorrow.
“We plan to have our first 1,000 customers on board at the start of commercial service later this year, providing an incredibly strong foundation as we begin regular operations and scale our fleet," Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said in a statement.
Sign-ups will be available on Virgin Galactic’s site, but flights won't come cheap. Tickets will cost $450,000 in total; the company will require a $150,000 deposit upfront.
For that hefty sum, customers will also be welcomed into the Virgin Galactic Future Astronaut community, and they’ll spend several days prior to the flight training at Spaceport America in New Mexico. The package also includes a bespoke Under Armour spacesuit and boots.
Virgin Galactic’s four-passenger space flights will last around 90 minutes, with paired flight up to 50,000 feet and then a Mach 3 rocket boost into space where passengers will get to experience a few minutes of weightlessness as well as a view of Earth. After the flight, customers will take part in a Virgin Galactic Astronaut Wings ceremony.
The company hasn't set a date for the first flight beyond saying it'll happen "later this year." It only completed its first crewed mission last July, and this public sale of tickets follows an earlier round of ticket sales to a smaller community of early hand-raisers. But its license to carry “space flight participants” was valid through July 2022 when it was issued last year.
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