The Spaceship Company (TSC) is a British/American spacecraft manufacturing company focused on building spacecraft and aircraft. Founded by Burt Rutan and Richard Branson, it was initially jointly owned by Virgin Group and Scaled Composites. TSC manufactures Virgin Galactic's spacecraft, including the SpaceShipTwo (SS2) and White Knight Two (WK2) carrier aircraft, and has plans to sell spacecraft to other buyers. The company's technologies include a care-free reentry system and cantilevered-hybrid rocket motor.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
The Spaceship Company, a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic, manufactures the SpaceShipTwo vehicle.
The Spaceship Company manufactures the Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo and is a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic.
Virgin Galactic retired The Spaceship Company brand as part of an internal realignment in December.
Enrico Palermo left Virgin Galactic in late 2020 to become head of the Australian Space Agency after serving as chief operating officer of Virgin Galactic and president of The Spaceship Company.
Enrico Palermo worked at The Spaceship Company and became president of that unit in 2018.
Virgin Group committed to purchasing supersonic jets under development by Boom Supersonic with The Spaceship Company, a subsidiary of Virgin Galactic, working with Boom on aircraft design.
The Spaceship Company designed and built the HTPB rubber/nitrous oxide-fueled hybrid rocket motor propulsion system used by Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo.
Total investment in Virgin Galactic, The Spaceship Company, and Virgin Orbit is about $1.3 to $1,500,000,000.
The Spaceship Company, a Virgin-owned company responsible for building the vehicles, expects to complete the build of the next spaceship in about a year.
Virgin Group announced a non-binding memorandum of understanding nearly a year ago with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia for a $1,000,000,000 investment that would be allocated to Virgin Galactic, The Spaceship Company, and Virgin Orbit.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Virgin’s space companies reached an initial agreement in October for a $1,000,000,000 investment in Virgin’s space companies, which include Virgin Orbit, Virgin Galactic, and The Spaceship Company.
The framework agreement calls for The Spaceship Company to build a dedicated space system that includes a WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft and a SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle to operate out of Taranto-Grottaglie Airport for tourism and research flights.