What happened
galactic virgin (NYSE: SPCE) stocks had a small increase today, rising almost 6% before falling again to close at 3.9%. The move came in response to a 2 pm tweet from the company announcing its next test flight. But here’s the curious thing:
They are not testing the space plane that failed the flight test in December; they are testing the mothership that carries the space plane instead.
VMS Eve – without VSS Unity – will fly again today. Image source: Virgin Galactic.
And
As Virgin Galactic explained, without explaining, “Our mothership, VMS Eve, will be conducting a flight from Spaceport America, New Mexico, today and another tomorrow. … to simulate the SpaceShipTwo Unity glide and approach phase. Earth.” And unless something is lost in the translation, it seems to mean that they will use the fully atmospheric VMS Eve to test how the space-capable VSS unit would land after visiting space.
This is extremely curious, first, because the two aircraft do not look, nor fly, anything similar. Therefore, it is difficult to see one serving as a proxy next to the other. And secondly, because it was the space plane (Unity) that had engine problems in the last test round – not the mothership (Eve) – and therefore it is the space plane, not the mothership, that seems to need more flight tests.
What now
Regardless, investors seem to be getting today’s news as progress some rank at least, and perhaps as the first step towards Virgin Galactic, making another attempt to test the VSS unit in the near future.
As soon as this happens, and is successful, the company will have to send Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson back into space and subsequently allow paying customers to board. In short, today’s news may just be a baby step into space, but at least it is going in the right direction.