Billionaire Richard Branson’s space company Virgin Galactic will not resume commercial travel until the fourth quarter of 2022. The company announced Thursday that a planned test flight had been postponed.
A spokesperson told CNBC that the company is taking “eight to 10 months” to “refurbish and improve” the spacecraft. A clear reason for the delay is not given, although the company points out that after an earlier test flight, it was concluded that ‘further inspection’ of the fleet is required.
The U.S. Aviation Regulator (FAA) previously decided to ground the Virgin Galactic spaceplane after an incident occurred during its founder Richard Branson’s historic space trip in July.
It is not clear whether Virgin Galactic’s decision is related to this: Virgin Galactic has always said that the flight went normally.
