Virgin Galactic sent its founder Richard Branson into space on July 11 to set an important milestone in the realization of commercial space travel from 2022. But Branson is moving away from directing the project to focus on philanthropy, and the company’s future depends on CEO Michael Colglazier.
Former Disney Parks President Korg Razer became CEO of Galactic in July last year. On the day Branson realized his dream of space, Forbes was able to talk to him in a room in a spaceport in New Mexico. Korg Razer emphasized that what the company offers is more than just space flight.
“The products we offer are memories of a lifetime. We provide customers with an experience they will never forget,” he said.
To that end, Galactic will eventually set up spaceports not only in New Mexico but around the world, he explains. “We will first work with New Mexico to build a spaceport-centric experience and extend it to other regions.”
To do so, almost once a day from all locations. Korg Razer said it would need to fly in space at a pace and also need to significantly increase its manufacturing capacity. He predicts that the company will need spacecraft and the number of motherships to carry them over the sky, “from the second half of the single digits to the first half of the double digits.”
Korg Razer did not disclose a specific schedule, but said, “The space station we operate will have 400 flights a year.”
Their competitor, Blue Origin, will soon send founder Jeff Bezos into space, but Korg Razer said, “This market is too big to worry about competition.” He also said that Blue Origin launches customers vertically into space with rockets, while Galactic takes a spacecraft on an airplane to fly into space, which is a discriminatory factor.
The Galactic spacecraft is carried by a carrier plane to a height of about 15 kilometers and then launches a rocket engine into space. “Our aircraft behaves acrobatic like ballet and gives us a wonderful view of the Earth,” Korg Raiser enthusiastically said.
But it will take a lot of capital before the company can deliver this graceful experience to its customers. Galactic announced on the 12th that it will sell an additional $ 500 million in shares.
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