Overview
- Virgin Galactic revealed its first Delta-class vehicle and announced its public-chosen name, Apeiron, as the company kicked off live coverage of the ship’s departure from its Mesa, Arizona factory.
- Apeiron is being transported attached to the VMS Eve carrier aircraft for delivery to Spaceport America in New Mexico where final assembly and flight testing will take place.
- The company says it now expects Apeiron’s first commercial flight in early Q2 2027 with a second Delta-class spaceship slated to enter service in late Q2 or early Q3 2027.
- Virgin Galactic cites exhaustive avionics software integration and validation as the reason for schedule shifts and says those systems will be completed and tested at Spaceport America before any flight tests.
- The Delta-class is built to carry up to six passengers and to fly as many as eight missions per month per vehicle, and the Mesa factory is shifting focus to finish a second ship to support a multi-vehicle commercial ramp that will move ticketholders toward flights in 2027.