FAA Approves Virgin Galactic Launching Passengers To Space

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has finally approved Virgin Galactic, a spaceship company owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, to take passengers for space flights. This approval is a milestone that the likes of Blue Origin and SpaceX are yet to achieve. The FAA approved Virgin Galactic on June 25, 2021, following three test flights finalized on May 22.

In his words, the CEO of Virgin Galactic said, “Today’s approval by the FAA of our full commercial launch license, in conjunction with the success of our May 22 test flight, gives us confidence as we proceed toward our first fully crewed test flight this summer.”

After their approval, Virgin Galactic recently sent Richard Branson on a very short test flight into space, a feat which has been perceived as overwhelmingly positive by some and underwhelmingly passive by others. 

According to Virgin Galactic, the first passenger flight will head into space by the end of 2022, although the exact dates are yet to be communicated. 

In other news, Jeff Bezos has officially announced taking his very first flight into space on July 20. Bezos, also the CEO of Blue Origin, will be heading to space along with his brother and two other passengers. 

Now that The FAA has approved Virgin Galactic, we expect SpaceX and Blue Origin to get the licenses for taking passengers on space flights pretty soon. As of now, Virgin Galactic seems to have won the race of being the first company to send a passenger flight to space. 

Virgin Galactic has sold over 600 tickets, each costing at least $250,000. This ticket is for a suborbital flight where people will get into earth’s orbit and experience a few minutes of weightlessness before coming back to earth. 

According to analysts, those who haven’t got tickets yet may pay up to $500,000 when Virgin Galactic reopens ticket sales later this year. The price for touring space is still very high for ordinary people, but as technology gets cheaper, these prices will gradually reduce.

Before the FAA approved Virgin Galactic, they had to do 3 test flights to ensure their spaceship was safe enough to take passengers into space. However, passengers are governed by an “informed consent” standard in this kind of flight, so they will be required to sign a waiver and be informed of the risks involved. 

This FAA approval is a green light for the space industry, so we expect several spaceship companies to speed up their (via Virgin Galactic) in the coming years.  Analysts expect the spaceship industry to be worth more than $8 Billion by 2030.