What happened
Shares of space tourism pioneer Virgin Galactic (SPCE +6.51%) rose a respectable 4.2% through 1:20 p.m. ET on Tuesday after an Ars Technica interview with Virgin Galactic President Mike Moses this morning.
NYSE: SPCE
Key Data Points
So what
In a wide-ranging interview, Ars writer Eric Berger noted that Virgin Galactic has just announced plans to launch its fourth spaceplane flight in four months, with Sept. 8 as the potential launch date. This demonstrates that Virgin Galactic is so far on track to fulfill its promise to maintain a once-a-month launch cadence -- not frequent enough to turn the company profitable, admittedly, but frequent enough to show that Virgin Galactic is keeping its promises.
Moses also confirmed its belief that its VSS Unity spaceplane should be able to fly 500 to 1,000 times over a 10-year lifespan, and that the company's new family of "Delta-class" ships should be similarly robust and able to fly even more frequently due to design changes that make it easier to service.
Now what
Looking ahead, Moses predicted that the first Delta-class spaceplane will be assembled by the end of 2025 and begin flying customers to space in 2026. Ultimately, the company intends to build "probably four to eight of those." And, flying with the help of a second Eve-class mothership, this should get the company to about 400 spaceflights per year.
Not coincidentally, 400 spaceflights per year happens to be the exact same number I calculated earlier this year. Four hundred is required to generate enough revenue to give Virgin Galactic a shot at breaking even. So in effect, in the interview, Moses explained to investors how Virgin Galactic intends to achieve that goal (of stopping losing money) and gave them a good idea when this might start to happen.
Turns out, this is exactly what investors wanted to hear from Virgin Galactic today.
