Virgin Galactic Selects Boeing's Aurora to Design New Motherships
Virgin Galactic teamed up with Aurora Flight Sciences to design and manufacture the aerospace firm's next-generation motherships.
The first new mothership—an air launch aircraft that carries Virgin's spaceship to its release altitude of approximately 50,000 feet—is expected to enter service in 2025.
"Our next-generation motherships are integral to scaling our operations," Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said in a statement(Opens in a new window). "They will be faster to produce, easier to maintain, and will allow us to fly substantially more missions each year. Supported by the scale and strength of Boeing, Aurora is the ideal manufacturing partner for us as we build our fleet to support 400 flights per year at Spaceport America."
Virgin has been working with Boeing research subsidiary Aurora for several months to develop design specifications and workforce and resource requirements in preparation for this long-term project, set to begin immediately. The aircraft, each designed to fly up to 200 launches per year (400 in total) will be manufactured at Aurora's Columbus, Miss., and Bridgeport, WV, facilities; final assembly is scheduled for Virgin Galactic's Mojave, Calif., location.
Virgin's existing carrier aircraft, VMS Eve, is nearly 14 years old and currently undergoing refurbishment(Opens in a new window). To accommodate the coming "Delta class" series of spaceships, however, the company needs multiple motherships to support multiple launches.
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