Virgin Galactic pilots will be at the controls of both the carrier plane and spaceship. Virgin Galactic has said it is planning for its second commercial trip in August and to begin flying at a monthly rate after that. Virgin Galactic, which went public about four years ago by merging with a special-purpose acquisition company, hasn’t generated significant revenue and isn’t profitable. Virgin Galactic didn’t return to flight until this April, when it conducted a test operation that didn’t attempt to reach space. During a 2014 test flight conducted by an outside company Virgin Galactic was working with, a spaceship broke apart and crashed after its co-pilot made an error, killing him.

Source: Wall Street Journal June 29, 2023 14:57 UTC