Virgin Galactic’s mission is to become the “Spaceline for Earth.” It is the first and only public company focused on commercial human spaceflight. Today, the company has two segments: Virgin Galactic, the spaceline which was founded in 2004 by the popular British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, and The Spaceship Company, an aerospace manufacturer which Branson co-founded in 2005. Virgin Galactic became the sole owner of The Spaceship Company in 2012. These two segments give Virgin Galactic optionality or the ability to diversify revenue streams which is important for companies in uncharted industries.

At the end of 2019, only 575 humans had ever traveled above Earth’s atmosphere. Almost all of them were government employees that spent multiple years training for their missions. Virgin Galactic plans to make space travel much more accessible.

The company has designed an end-to-end spaceflight system that is centered around a unique, Virgin-branded customer experience. Virgin Galactic has already collected more than $80 million of deposits from 600 “Future Astronauts” who want to be first in line to embark on the company’s multi-day experience, which includes three days of training and culminates in a spaceflight on the fourth day where astronauts will get views of Earth from space and enjoy several minutes of weightlessness. Astronauts will then land back at Virgin’s spaceport and celebrate with their families.

Virgin Galactic has focused its system around reusable, horizontal-takeoff spacecraft which are key to increasing total space flights and reducing costs over time.

The company has designed a custom-built aircraft to carry its spaceships up to an altitude of 45,000 feet where they will be released for their spaceflights. Once released, the spaceships are powered by reusable rocket motors which are designed to maximize safety, reliability, and reusability.

Astronauts will start and end their experience at Virgin Galactic’s Spaceport America. Spaceport America is the company’s manufacturing and astronaut training headquarters located on 27 square miles of desert landscape in New Mexico. More important than its cool name, the spaceport gives Virgin Galactic access to 6,000 square miles of restricted airspace from ground level up to space which allows frequent and consistent flight scheduling without the interruption of general commercial air traffic. The desert climate also gives Virgin favorable launch conditions year-round. Virgin has discussions with governments underway to potentially build additional spaceports in the UAE and Italy.