Proactive Investors - Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (NYSE:SPCE) shares recovered slightly before Friday’s opening bell as it readied for the launch of the VSS Unity (NYSE:U) on the suborbital Galactic 07 mission, with the flight window opening on Saturday, June 8.
Shares of the California-based aerospace and space travel firm were up 1.4% premarket at $0.84 but are down about 5.6% this week.
Saturday’s launch will mark Virgin Galactic’s seventh commercial mission.
On board the craft launching from New Mexico’s Spaceport America will be a research astronaut from Axiom Space and three private astronauts from California and New York in the US and Italy.
It is the final flight of the company’s Unity spacecraft before it plans to pause commercial operations to focus on the development of its new Delta-class spacecraft, which is expected to enter commercial service in 2026.
The Delta craft can fit six passengers and make up to eight spaceflights a month, with tickets priced at US$600,000 versus the Unity ticket price of US$450,000.