What happened
Shares of Virgin Galactic (SPCE -1.94%) jumped 5% as of 11:05 a.m. EDT today -- but the reason doesn't seem to have much to do with the space company itself this time.
Instead, it's all about Blue Origin.
So what
Over at Virgin Galactic's biggest rival in space tourism, bidding on a ticket for the first commercial flight of Blue Origin's New Shepard space rocket is hitting a fever pitch. Blue just tweeted out a reminder that all registrations to participate in its June 12 auction of the ticket must be in by today:
Auction registration closes today at 5:00 p.m. EDT / 21:00 UTC for the very first seat on #NewShepard. The winning bidder will fly to space on July 20th with Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark. Visit https://t.co/7Y4The9OmR to register. pic.twitter.com/XP6nRhlOT8
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) June 10, 2021
And even before the auction reaches its final stage, the floor bid on this ticket has reached $4 million.
Now what
Why does that matter to Virgin Galactic investors -- especially if its own CEO, Richard Branson, is planning to beat Jeff Bezos into space, and fly on an upcoming Virgin Galactic test flight July 4 weekend? Probably, the answer is as simple as this:
Blue Origin is doing its level best to get people excited about space tourism. If it succeeds (and the $4 million bid price suggests that it is succeeding), that's good news not only for Blue Origin, but for Virgin Galactic stock, too.