Virgin Galactic Gets FAA Approval to Fly Customers to Space

Mr. Branson plans to join a Virgin Galactic crewed test flight later this year. Earlier this month, Mr. Bezos said he plans to travel to space on July 20 as part of the first crew carried by Blue Origin, the Amazon.com founder’s space company.

Friday’s move is an adjustment to Virgin Galactic’s operator’s license, which the company has held since 2016.

Virgin Galactic also said that it has completed an extensive review of data gathered from its May 22 test flight and confirmed that it performed well against all flight objectives.

The May 22 test flight achieved a speed of Mach 3 and reached space at an altitude of 55.5 miles.

After an extensive review of the data collected during the flight, the company confirmed that the rocket-powered test of the spaceship’s upgraded horizontal stabilizers and flight controls demonstrated strong performance, in line with predictions. The cabin environment data was also in line with predictions, it said.

The flight successfully carried three revenue-generating research experiments that tested and demonstrated technologies in microgravity as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Flight Opportunities Program. The pilots flew VSS Unity on a specific trajectory designed to meet the objectives of these research experiments.

With the data analysis from the May flight now complete, Virgin Galactic will continue preparing for the remaining three test flights, it said.