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Courtesy of Virgin Galactic
Shares of
Virgin Galactic
fell on Friday after the space tourism company pushed back the launch of a commercial service to the second quarter of 2023.
Virgin Galactic
(ticker: SPCE ) last said it expects to launch commercial space tourism service in the first quarter of next year. This was after the launch was pushed back to the fourth quarter of 2022.
Shares fell 10.4% to $7.34 in premarket trading on Friday. At the start of the session, Virgin Galactic shares had fallen nearly 39% this year.
In a statement accompanying the company’s second-quarter earnings, Virgin Galactic said the latest delay was “due to extended completion dates within the mothership improvement program.”
“Although our short-term plans now call for commercial service to begin in the second quarter of 2023, progress on our future fleet continues and many of the key elements of our roadmap are now in place to scale the business in a meaningful way,” the CEO said director Michael Colglazier in a statement.
Virgin Galactic announced last month that it is partnering with
Boeing
‘c
(BA) Aurora Flight Sciences to design the company’s next-generation motherships.
The mothership is the aircraft that lifts a spacecraft to about 45,000 feet before launching it. After separation, the spacecraft’s engine starts and takes the passengers to the edge of space.
Virgin Galactic reported a second-quarter loss of 43 cents per share on revenue of $357,000, down from $571,000 last year.
Free cash flow in the period was negative $91 million, compared to negative $66 million in the second quarter of 2021. The company said it expects negative free cash flow of $110 million to $120 million in the third quarter.
Write to Joe Welfel at [email protected]