Shares of Virgin Galactic (SPCE 3.15%) were up 9.4% as of 1:30 p.m. ET Friday after the commercial spaceliner completed its sixth spaceflight in as many months.
It certainly helps that the broader market is rallying today -- with both the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 indexes up more than 1% as of this writing. But today's outsize rally for Virgin Galactic comes on the heels of its latest successful spaceflight yesterday, dubbed Galactic 05, which highlighted the unique suborbital science-lab capabilities of the company's spaceflight platform.
Demonstrating broader applications for commercial human spaceflight
Yesterday's flight carried not only one private astronaut named Ketty Pucci-Sisti Maisonrouge, to the edge of space, but also two experiments tended by planetary scientist Alan Stern and bioastronautics researcher Kellie Gerardi. The experiments included a biomedical harness to collect physiological data related to human spaceflight, that also allowed Stern to conduct practice routines and procedures in preparation for a future NASA-funded suborbital research flight.
"The success of this mission is another important step in the development of the scientific and educational use cases for commercial suborbital vehicles," Stern stated. "The potential here is literally astronomical."
Gerardi added that she was "struck by the broader societal impact of commercial human spaceflight," noting that Virgin Galactic is now responsible for producing 10% of the world's female astronauts.
What's next for Virgin Galactic?
Virgin Galactic's flight cadence was greatly improving following an extended "enhancement period" for its VMS Eve mothership and spacecraft last year, enabling the once-per-month schedule Virgin Galactic has kept up for the better part of 2023. With its latest mission complete, however, Virgin Galactic says it will proceed with post-flight analysis as well as planned annual vehicle inspections before recommencing additional commercial flights. Its next flight, Galactic 06, is currently scheduled for sometime in January 2024.
In the meantime, Virgin Galactic is also set to announce third-quarter 2023 results after the market closes on Nov. 8 -- a report that will mark its first time achieving three commercial, revenue-generating spaceflights in a single quarter.
I'm still holding my shares of Virgin Galactic, but I'll also readily admit the company has a long way to go before it reaches sustained profitability. You can be sure investors will be watching closely next week for any updates on potentially scaling operations further -- whether through progress toward building additional spaceports or more spaceships -- as Virgin Galactic works to fulfill its hefty backlog of around 800 prospective astronauts who've already reserved their spots on a future flight.
