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 “To have three or four people who are fairly entrepreneurial
competing with each other means we’ll be able to open up space at a
fraction of the price that governments have been able to do so in
the past,” Branson told Reuters as he toured Virgin Galactic’s
150,000-square-foot LauncherOne rocket design and manufacturing
plant in Long Beach, California.
On Friday, Virgin Galactic plans to unveil its new SpaceShipTwo, a
six-passenger, two-pilot winged space plane designed to take
thrill-seekers, researchers and commercial customers on five-minute
hops into suborbital space, reaching altitudes of about 62 miles
(100 km).
Virgin Galactic is moving ahead with plans to build its own space
launchers, including the new passenger vehicle and LauncherOne
rockets designed to lift small satellites starting as early as next
year, company officials said.
 Branson's rivals in the privately funded space race include SpaceX
and Tesla founder Elon Musk, Amazon’s <AMZN.O> Jeff Bezos and
Microsoft <MSFT.O> co-founder Paul Allen.
Branson's venture has been grounded since its first spaceship,
designed and built by Northrop Grumman Corp's <NOC.N> Scaled
Composites, was destroyed on Oct. 31, 2014, during a test flight in
Mojave. The accident killed one pilot and dashed Virgin Galactic’s
plans to start commercial operations as early as this year.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigated the
accident, determined that the co-pilot prematurely released locks
that pin the ship’s rotating tail section into place. The new
spaceship includes a pin that prevents the pilots from unlocking the
tail section too early, before aerodynamic forces have built up to
keep the tail from rotating on its own.
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The Spaceship Company, or TSC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Virgin
Galactic, already had taken over manufacturing of the second
spaceship in a planned fleet of five when the accident occurred.
"Ultimately, we want to be able to produce our own point-to-point
aircraft," Branson said. "The best way to do that is to be involved
with every aspect of the experimentation and the build."
Branson’s London-based Virgin Group and Aabar Investments, run by
the Abu Dhabi government, combined have invested more than $500
million in Virgin Galactic, said company Chief Executive George
Whitesides.
Virgin Galactic is selling rides on SpaceShipTwo for $250,000. So
far, nearly 700 people have signed up, Whitesides said.
(Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Joseph White and Tom Brown)
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