What happened
Shares of Virgin Galactic (SPCE +1.68%) stock tanked Thursday morning after its arch rival in space tourism, Blue Origin, conducted its fourth-straight successful commercial spaceflight.
Virgin Galactic shares are down 6.5% as of 1 p.m. ET on the news.
Crew of the fourth successful Blue Origin flight. Image source: Blue Origin.
So what
Blue Origin's New Shepard space rocket was minus one high-profile passenger when it took off from Launch Site One in West Texas just before 10 a.m. ET today. SNL comedian Pete Davidson, who had previously agreed to accept a free ticket on the 10-minute flight to help lend some star power (so to speak) to Blue Origin, changed his mind when New Shepard changed its launch date.
Six other, presumably paying customers did fly today, however, so if Blue Origin lost some PR value, it may have made up for it in cold, hard cash.
Now what
Come to think of it, even the PR from today's flight wasn't totally valueless. Although Davidson couldn't make the flight, upon completion, Blue Origin was still able to boast that it has now conducted 21 consecutive flights with its New Shepard rocket (four with passengers aboard) without suffering a single mishap.
21st consecutive successful crew capsule landing (every flight in the program, including a pad escape test in 2012).
-- Blue Origin (@blueorigin) March 31, 2022
That's an admirable safety record that will logically attract more paying customers to Blue Origin in the future -- and away from Virgin Galactic. Speaking of which, Virgin Galactic hasn't launched to space since its founder, Sir Richard Branson, corralled five guests aboard for a crewed flight back in July 2021. For the past eight months, the company has remained essentially grounded, permitting Blue Origin to rack up flights, headlines, and experience to expand its lead.
And the further behind Virgin Galactic falls, the further its stock price falls, too.
