BOEING AND VIRGIN MOVE FURTHER INTO SPACE

摘要

Boeing aims to capitalise on the commercialisation of space with a US$20m investment into Virgin Galactic, the company pioneering commercial human space flight. The investment is contingent on Virgin Galactic's merger with Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019. In February 2019, VSS Unity, Virgin Galactic's reuseable spaceplane, flew at 295,007ft (89,918m) and reached Mach 3.04 (2,255mph) during a successful second flight test. According to Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, the agreement marks the start of an important collaboration for the future of air and space travel, which he said are the natural next steps for the company's human spaceflight programme.