Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity Space Plane Grounded in 2022, Stock Soars

Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity space plane will be grounded until January 2024 and will fly just once or twice more before being permanently grounded in mid-2024. This move is to free up resources for the development of the next-generation suborbital vehicle, the Delta class. The Delta craft will have a higher flight cadence and revenue generation potential compared to Unity. Virgin Galactic aims to begin flight tests of the first Delta spacecraft in 2025 and bring it into service in 2026. The company also announced layoffs of about 18% of its workforce to decrease costs and strategically realign resources.