Virgin Galactic and Boeing team up on the next gen of “motherships” as space tourism revs up

$450K to take off… even space-flation is getting high (a ticket to the edge of space cost “only” $250K last year). Virgin Galactic shares jumped 12% after it announced it’s teaming up with Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences to build two space-tourism carrier planes (dubbed: “motherships”). Virgin's mothership flies the spacecraft to its launch point, where the engine separates and launches passengers into space.

• Frequent flier: Virgin's "Delta class" ships will take off weekly once they start flying customers (ETA: 2026), so it’ll need more than the one mothership it has now.
• Double dip: Boeing already has a deal with rival SpaceX to build space capsules, but an alliance with Virgin could generate billions of additional revenue.

Dinner rez on the ISS… Last year was huge for space tourism, as billionaires like Bezos strapped up in spacesuits (and cowboy hats) to fly VIPs. Last month, Amazon’s Blue Origin launched its fifth space-tourism flight. Meanwhile, SpaceX has launched four crewed flights since last year — but Virgin has just one.

• Long layover: Econ struggles are starting to curb some enthusiasm. In May, Virgin pushed its first commercial space flight to early 2023 — its second delay.