Branson Aims Mid-2018 Space Trip as Virgin Resumes Powered Tests
- Flight program to be stepped up following 2014’s fatal crash
- Full commercial service could be underway by end of next year
Here's How Elon Musk Plans to Send Tourists to Space
This article is for subscribers only.
More than 2 1/2 years after the fatal breakup of Virgin Galactic’s experimental rocket plane, Richard Branson is poised to revive powered test flights as the billionaire entrepreneur targets his first journey into space by the middle of next year.
Following the completion of a series of glide-only sorties, powered tests are set to take place every three weeks with the aim of extending them into space by November or December, Branson said in an interview. After his own flight, full commercial passenger operations should start by the end of 2018, he said.