Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. announced the completion of its new manufacturing facility in Phoenix, Arizona, where final assembly of its next-generation Delta spaceships is scheduled to take place starting in First Quarter 2025. An initial team of Virgin Galactic technical operations and manufacturing personnel has begun preparing the facility to receive and install tooling, expected to arrive in Fourth Quarter 2024. The facility will then begin to receive major subassemblies, including the wing, the fuselage, and the feathering system next year, as the team scales to build the first two ships of the Delta fleet.

Once ground testing in Phoenix is complete, Virgin Galactic?s mothership will ferry completed spaceships to Spaceport America, New Mexico for flight test ahead of commercial operations, which are expected to begin in 2026. The multiuse facility includes two hangars equipped with multiple bays, designed for maximum flexibility in building and testing space vehicles. Work at the facility will be supported by the Company?s digital twin technology, which enables seamless integration between Virgin Galactic and suppliers through real-time collaboration, promoting strong governance and increased efficiency and reliability.

In May 2024, Virgin Galactic opened a ground testing facility in Southern California for Delta subsystems, including avionics, feather actuation, pneumatics, and hydraulics, using an Iron Bird test rig. Virgin Galactic?s Delta spaceships will seat up to six private passengers, and each is expected to be capable of flying up to eight missions per month, dramatically increasing access to space.