what happened
Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE) the stock got a bit of a boost today, rising almost 6% before falling back to 3.9%. The move comes in response to a 14:00 tweet from the company announcing its next test flight. But here’s the weird thing:
They are not testing the spacecraft that failed its flight test in December; they test the motherhood it wear the spacecraft instead.
VMS Eve – without VSS unit – flies again today. Image source: Virgin Galactic.
Approximately
As Virgin Galactic explained without explaining: ‘Our mother ship, VMS Eve, will be taking a flight from Spaceport America, New Mexico, today and tomorrow. … to simulate SpaceShipTwo Unity’s gliding and approaching phase to land. ‘ And unless something got lost in translation, it seems to mean that they will use the all-atmospheric VMS Eve to test how the space VSS unit would land itself after visiting space.
It is extremely curious at first, because the two planes do not look or fly anything similar. It is therefore difficult to see that the one serves as a close proxy for the other. And secondly, because it was the spacecraft (Unity) that experienced engine problems in the last round of the test – not the mothership (Eve) – and so it is the spacecraft, not the mothership, that apparently would need more testing. – fly.
Now what
Regardless, investors seem to see today’s news as progress some sort, at least, and perhaps as the first step towards Virgin Galactic in the near future another attempt to test VSS unit.
Once that happens and succeeds, the company should be back on track to send Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson into space and later allow it to walk in to paying customers. In summary, today’s news may be just a baby moving to space, but at least it’s in the right direction.