Virgin Galactic (SPCE) can resume a test flight of its SpaceShipTwo vehicle on Saturday, an important step before commercial flights can begin. SPCE share rose.
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The test comes after the space tourism industry interrupted a car flight on December 12 when it failed to reach important milestones due to the sudden stop in the rocket car’s firing sequence.
Management said the next powered flight would test the work done since the aborted flight.
“The team installed the hybrid rocket engine in SpaceShipTwo Unity as part of the preparatory aircraft preparations for our flight test window that opens this week. Thanks to Senior Propulsion Engineer, and New Mexico native Rich C De Baca, for the video walkthrough!” pic.twitter.com/gXW3PMDa7V
– Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) 8 February 2021
The test will also include the original objectives of the December flight, which was supposed to complete the data collection for the last two FAA verification and validation milestones.
These milestones are needed before SpaceShipTwo can be cleared for commercial flights.
In addition, the customer cabin as well as upgraded horizontal stabilizers and flight controls will be evaluated.
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Test priced in SPCE stock?
Virgin Galactic shares rose 6% to 55.66 on the stock market today. SPCE shares were among heavily short-circulating equities that attracted interest from retail investors in January and have more than doubled since the beginning of the year.
Shares of Boeing (BA), whose venture capital arm invested in Virgin Galactic, rose 0.6%.
Wall Street was very positive about the company, even though it did not start commercial service or earn any revenue. The majority of analysts still have a buy rating on SPCE stocks, but some are slimming down.
UBS downgraded Virgin Galactic shares to a natural sell-off Wednesday on a ‘thoughtful’ approach to valuation. Analyst Myles Walton writes that he believes that a successful test flight by Virgin Galactic has already been priced in the share price. UBS now has a price target of 52 on the stock.
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