Virgin Galactic completes its facility to build next-generation Delta spaceships

Virgin Galactic Holdings (NYSE:SPCE) announced the completion of its new manufacturing facility in Phoenix, Arizona. The company said the facility is where final assembly of its next-generation Delta spaceships is scheduled to take place starting in Q1 2025. The multiuse facility includes two hangars equipped with multiple bays, designed for maximum flexibility in building and testing space vehicles.

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 Q4 of this year. The facility will then begin to receive major subassemblies, including the wing, the fuselage, and the feathering system, as the team scales to build the first two ships of the Delta fleet. Once ground testing in Phoenix is complete, Virgin Galactic’s (SPCE) mothership will ferry completed spaceships to Spaceport America, New Mexico, for flight tests ahead of commercial operations, which are expected to begin in 2026.

“The completion of our new manufacturing facility is an important milestone in the development of our fleet of next-generation spaceships, the key to our scale and profitability,” stated Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier.

Looking ahead, 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.

Shares of Virgin Galactic (SPCE) are down 83% on a year-to-date basis and carved out a new all-time low of $7.00 on Tuesday.