Branson signed an agreement on July 6 with Italian officials to bring a Virgin Galactic launch operation to a planned spaceport in southern Italy. The company hopes to establish several operations, in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, the CEO said.
Virgin Galactic has been looking to recover after a fatal crash in October 2014 of its original SpaceShipTwo, which broke apart during a test flight. The company then redesigned key aspects of the craft. Last year, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund invested $1 billion into Virgin Group’s three U.S.-based space companies: Virgin Galactic, Spaceship Co. and Virgin Orbit.
Whenever it’s ready to welcome passengers to southern New Mexico, Virgin plans to set up a lottery to help sort the initial group of 100 customers—whom it calls “founders”—into a flight order. The company has a roster of about 800 and isn’t currently selling tickets. Whitesides and his wife, Loretta, are among the first 100.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.