Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) announced Tuesday that it will open ticket sales to the public on Wednesday, requiring a $150,000 deposit.
The space tourism company says its ticket prices will start at $450,000 each, as the company revealed last year, with three different sales offerings: a single seat purchase, packaged seats for couples, friends or family, or opportunities to book entire flights. The company has said previously that — of the $150,000 deposit — $25,000 is not refundable.
The stock has been battered over the past 12 months, dropping 85%, with the company having delayed the beginning of commercial spaceflights to late this year. The shares opened Tuesday morning up 85 cents, or 10.4%, to $8.99
For much of the last decade, Virgin Galactic has had about 600 reservations for tickets on future flights, with those tickets sold largely between $200,000 and $250,000 each. The company reopened ticket sales at the $450,000 price in August and had sold about 100 additional tickets as of November.
Alongside opening ticket sales to the public, Virgin Galactic also revealed a rebranding — replacing the iris of Sir Richard Branson in its logo with a purple outline of its spacecraft.
The move distances Virgin Galactic from its founder, with Branson having sold more than $1.25 billion in stock since the company went public in 2019 and achieved his longtime dream of passing the U.S. boundary of space in July.
