Once VMS Eve returns to Spaceport America, it will support a glide flight by VSS Unity followed by a powered test flight with company personnel on board and then a flight for the Italian Air Force before starting flights of private astronauts in the second quarter of 2023.
Virgin Galactic delayed work on VSS Imagine to complete flight testing of VSS Unity and to perform an extensive refurbishment of Unity and its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft VMS Eve after Unity carried company founder Richard Branson to space in July 2021.
Virgin Galactic has not conducted a spaceflight since July 2021, when VSS Unity reached space with company founder Richard Branson on board.
Virgin Galactic previously delayed the start of VSS Unity commercial flights from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023.
The proposed 2023 National Defense Authorization Act directs the Defense Business Board and the Defense Innovation Board to review whether the unity of effort decision-making process is agile enough for the rapid development of space acquisition systems to keep pace with today’s space industry.
Virgin Galactic’s existing engineering staff are working on Unity, Eve, and Imagine, the new suborbital spaceplane now slated to enter commercial service in mid-2023.
Virgin Galactic’s first quarter earnings release on 2022-05-05 stated the company expected to start commercial flights of its VSS Unity spaceplane in the first quarter of 2023 after completing upgrades of VSS Unity and VMS Eve.
Unity and Eve are scheduled to resume flight tests in the fourth quarter of 2022 with one glide flight and one powered test flight planned before starting commercial service in early 2023.
Virgin Galactic postponed a mission for the Italian Air Force and scheduled maintenance on VSS Unity and VMS Eve to last until the third quarter of 2022.
VSS Imagine will start flying customers later in 2023 and will operate alongside VSS Unity from Spaceport America in New Mexico.
Work on the carrier aircraft VMS Eve is progressing towards completion in the third quarter of 2022, with VSS Unity also expected to complete its maintenance in that quarter.
NextNav Pinnacle received Unity Verified Solution status last year, enabling developers to integrate vertical location capabilities into applications and games built with the Unity engine.
Virgin Galactic projects negative free cash flow of $85,000,000 to $95,000,000 in the fourth quarter because of upgrade work on VMS Eve and VSS Unity as well as Delta Class and new mothership work.
The Enterprise Commercial GEOINT Strategy 2021-2025 outlines initiatives in four areas: driving unity of effort; diversifying sources and building capacity through partnerships; improving data security and developing processes to mitigate risks; and influencing and fostering commercial capabilities.
Toronto Water selected the Trimble Unity software platform to support its vision to improve operational efficiency across the organization.
Virgin Galactic postponed the next SpaceShipTwo flight, Unity 23, on 2021-09-10 to no earlier than mid-2021-10-01.
Virgin Galactic delayed its next SpaceShipTwo mission, Unity 23, to the middle of October to perform inspections of a potential manufacturing defect in a flight control actuation system component.
Unity 23 will be the 23rd flight for VSS Unity and will operate from Spaceport America.
Virgin Galactic expected to perform the Unity 23 mission in late September or early October 2021.
The Federal Aviation Administration is overseeing a mishap investigation into Virgin Galactic’s 2021-07-11 Unity 22 flight of SpaceShipTwo.