Virgin Galactic to launch second commercial space flight next month By Reuters

(Reuters) – Virgin Galactic Holdings (NYSE:) said on Thursday that the space tourism startup will launch its second commercial flight in a window that opens next month after a successful first flight in June.

The firm is among the few U.S.-based space companies, along with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to cater to the burgeoning demand for commercial space operations and space travel.

Shares of the company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson rose about 3% in trading before the bell, after having gained 11% so far this year.

Details on crew, pilots and the flight manifest for the mission set to launch in a window opening on Aug. 10, will be released later, the company said.

A three-member crew of its first-mission ‘Galactic-01’ made the brief suborbital ride, marking a long-delayed breakthrough for the company, finally inaugurating commercial service after being fraught with development setbacks for nearly 20 years.

Virgin Galactic had earlier said it has already booked a backlog of some 800 customers, charging most from $250,000 to $450,000 per seat, and envisions eventually building a large enough fleet to accommodate more than one flight a day.

The ‘Galactic-02’ mission will also be live streamed on the company’s website.