Virgin Galactic Stock Tumbles as Commercial Service Again Delayed

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Shares of

Virgin Galactic

were tumbling Friday after the space tourism company pushed back the launch of commercial service to the second quarter of 2023.

Virgin Galactic

(ticker: SPCE) last said it expected to start commercial space-tourism service in the first quarter of next year. That was after pushing back the launch to the fourth quarter of 2022.

The stock fell 10.4% to $7.34 in premarket trading Friday. Coming into the session, Virgin Galactic shares have dropped nearly 39% this year.

In a statement that accompanied the company’s second-quarter earnings, Virgin Galactic said the latest delay was “due to extended completion dates within the mothership enhancement program.”

“While our short-term plans now call for commercial service to launch in the second quarter of 2023, progress on our future fleet continues and many of the key elements of our roadmap are now in place to scale the business in a meaningful way,” said Chief Executive Michael Colglazier in a statement. 

Virgin Galactic announced last month that it was partnering with

Boeing
’s
(BA) Aurora Flight Sciences to design the company’s next-generation motherships.

A mothership is the airplane that takes a spaceship up to about 45,000 feet before dropping it. After separation, the spaceship engine starts and takes passengers to the edge of space.

Virgin Galactic reported a second-quarter loss of 43 cents a share on revenue of $357,000 in revenue, down from $571,000 last year.

Free cash flow in the period was a negative $91 million, compared with a negative $66 million in the second quarter of 2021. The company said it expects negative free cash flow of $110 million to $120 million in the third quarter.

Write to Joe Woelfel at [email protected]