The announcement that Virgin Galactic's next test flight with the Spaceship Two vehicle "Unity" will be delayed until May, and that commercial flights will thus be delayed until 2022, has caused the stock to fall sharply.
Rymdfartsbolagets tidigare mål var enligt Markets Insider att testa Spaceship Two-farkosten den 13 februari. Några dagar innan ställdes dock resan in, på grund av vad som kallades ”tekniska kontroller” framför allt gällande elektromagnetiska störningar.
The planned test flight in February was the company's second attempt after a previous attempt in December of last year failed. That flight was aborted due to an engine misfire, but the craft was able to land safely at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
The company has so far gotten 600 people to pay in advance for space travel. If the test flight now planned for May goes ahead and is successful, it would be an important step on the road to commercial flights. However, such flights are not expected to be possible until 2022 at the earliest, Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier admitted during a conference call on Thursday.
The company had cash of $666 million at the end of the year, compared to $742 million at the end of the previous quarter.
Virgin Galactic had fallen 13.5 percent in pre-market trading at 3:20 p.m., after trading down 8.4 percent on Thursday. The stock has fallen around 25 percent in the past two weeks.
Source: Direct News Agency
