Psst... Wanna buy some stock in a spaceplane company? Virgin would like a word

Welcome to your weekly reminder that space is both expensive and difficult in The Register's roundup of all things rockety. Richard Branson to sell off Virgin Galactic shares Even as the Twitter orifice of Virgin Galactic was celebrating the milestone of a SpaceShipTwo glide into Spaceport America, the boss of the outfit was …

[Chris G]

Space glider

If I were to consider investing in a space glider, it would have to have an interesting name like, Oh I dunno.... Lohan.

[Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse]

Galactic?

I've always seen this as a triumph of marketing hype rather than anything really worth giving consideration to.

[Wellyboot]

Re: Galactic?

Very, and just bragging rights by the bunch who've put deposits down.

As SpaceX is due to push astronauts up to the ISS next week it's not a great leap (or expense) for them to offer tourist hops in a Dragon atop a Falcon thats launching other cargo into orbit, if that happens V-Gs potential customer list will be vanish.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Galactic?

Pretty sure it's just a way for various slabs to burn vast amounts of carbon in order that they can Instagram a photo of the Earth 'So fragile, so pretty, stop global warming' [sad face emoji] Buy my merch.

[Youngone]

Re: Galactic?

I am unsure what Virgin Galactic actually is.

It was founded in 2004 and is yet to get a single thing into orbit, even once.

Who is going to buy shares in that, and why? It is going to have income of about $1 million this year, and lose about $60 million.

That is not a business.

[el_oscuro]

Re: Galactic?

I though it was pretty cool - back in 2004. Since then, SpaceX has managed to get a Falcon 1 into orbit, Falcon 9, reuse, Falcon Heavy into a Mars orbit, and has actually flown Starship at least a little bit.

Meanwhile their competition, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin?

Crickets...

[IGotOut]

Hmmmm

500million in share sell off.

Isn't that how much he wanted to be bailed out for?

So he's doing exactly what people said he should do...well part of what people said he should do.

[Wellyboot]

Re: Hmmmm

There a quite a few other things people have said he should do, some don't even make your eyes water...

[BebopWeBop]

Re: Hmmmm

I suspect a pay per view on some of those suggestions would be very lucrative!

[Gene Cash]

Saffire-IV

That has a nifty experiment: they're going to burn 2 large samples in normal atmosphere, then drop the pressure and raise the oxygen percentage, and burn a second identical pair. They're also testing fire sensors and automatic extinguishing systems.

[Spherical Cow]

Front row seats to re-entry?

Is HDEV now transmitting from the Cygnus? Because there's still a feed going. Could be (briefly) interesting.