Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. is a company that is working on a space-exploration flight for tourists. The flight, which costs an estimate of a whopping $250,000, could be coming as early as this year. Stocks in the company have fallen by 6% due to a loss of $72.8 million for the fourth quarter. More than 600 customers have paid a collective $80 million in deposits for the flights. The flights will consist of 6 passengers on a plane, which will be carried by a larger jet to help push the rocket to outer space. The flights will last 90-minutes, in which the passengers will feel around three to four minutes of weightlessness. The company believes that there could be roughly 25 flights given per month. Virgin Galactic halted ticket sales recently due to the crash of a spacecraft.
Virgin Galactic has a specific target market, wealthy people, because each flight per person costs roughly six figures, or $250,000. It could also be a multiple market industry because Boeing also suggests that instead, Virgin Galactic could work on inventing a hyper-sonic jet which could in theory travel from London to New York in about an hour.
I chose this article because I find aeronautics interesting and to see that space is now beginning a project to be a tourist attraction shows how much our economy and technology has grown over the years.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/virgin-galactic-plans-to-resume-space-tourism-sales-11582678956
Hi Henry, I think I have heard talks about it but didn't realize how soon plans for this space-exploration flight would be. As suspected, I see that the target audience would be wealthy people due to how expensive it is to book a flight. In my honest opinion, I don't think it is necessary and I agree with Boeing. I also have to consider environmental factors and how damaging it could be to the planet. Overall, I think it is very interesting and the future is coming sooner than expected.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic and article. It is obvious that there is a specific market that this product would only be available for, that is the wealthy people. There are other, more beneficiary ways this company could be investing their money on. I see, in my opinion, a 90 minute flight to space for six figures as a waste of resources and time.
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