These new motherships will replace Virgin Galactic's
existing carrier plane — the VMS Eve built by Scaled Composites — with the
first of the new aircraft due to enter service by 2025. The company also plans
to launch new Delta-class spaceships the same year.
The value of the contract was not disclosed.
Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said in a statement
the next generation motherships "will be faster to produce, easier to
maintain and will allow us to fly substantially more missions each year."
He added the goal was 400 flights per year from the
company's base in New Mexico, called Spaceport America.
Todd Citron, Boeing's Chief Technology Officer added,
"Boeing is excited to contribute our culture of safety, our operational
excellence, and our expertise in aircraft design and manufacturing to help
advance human space travel."
The statement did not however offer any technical details.
Established in 2004, Virgin Galactic is looking to build on
the success of a high profile test mission in 2021, which saw its founder
Richard Branson experience a few minutes' weightlessness on the edge of space.
Unlike other companies that use vertical-launch rockets,
Virgin Galactic uses a carrier aircraft that takes off from a runway, gains
high altitude, and drops a rocket-powered spaceplane that soars into space
before gliding back to Earth.
Both VMS Eve and the company's spaceplane VMS Unity are at
the company's production facility in Mojave, California, where they are
undergoing maintenance. Virgin Galactic said its first commercial missions will
begin in the first quarter of 2023.
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