Virgin Galactic pilots board the company’s SpaceShipTwo Unity spacecraft, linked to the Eve aircraft.
Virgin Galactic
Shares of Virgin Galactic rose as a notice from the Federal Aviation Administration indicated that the company’s next spacecraft test was already underway on Saturday.
An FAA announcement posted Thursday said that the airspace around Virgin Galactic’s base of operations at Spaceport America in New Mexico would be restricted to space operations from Saturday at 9:00 AM ET until Sunday at 6:00 PM ET .
A Virgin Galactic spokeswoman confirmed to CNBC that the company was ‘making good progress with our flight preparations’, noting that the flight effort was pending weather and technical readiness.
Virgin Galactic’s share climbed to 9% in trading at its previous price of $ 52.39 per share.
The spacecraft test will be a repeat of the December effort that the company ended during the launch. Virgin Galactic studied the cause of the abortion for two months and performed soil tests, with the test flight to check ‘the repairs completed’.
While only two pilots will be on board, the flight is expected to be the first of three in a series, as the company wants to end the development of its spacecraft system.
Virgin Galactic will aim for each of the original objectives of the December flight effort, including evaluating the elements of the client cabin, testing the live current capacity from the spacecraft to the ground, and upgrading the upgraded horizontal stabilizers and flight controls during the boost phase of the flight, ”the company said.
After the flight test, Virgin Galactic said it would complete an extensive data review to inform the next steps in the test flight program.
The stock has more than doubled since the beginning of 2021, a move that led to UBS lowering its rating on the stock to neutral earlier this week. UBS said in a comment to customers that ‘we are mindful of valuation that looks complete’, although upcoming test flights create an attractive ‘catalyst chain’.
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