Virgin Galactic was a vanity project—then it saved Richard Branson’s airline

The space SPAC paid off, at least for the company's founder.

When Richard Branson reached the edge of space in Virgin Galactic’s rocket plane on July 11, he was hailed as the first person to leave the earth in a vehicle he owned himself. What might be more notable is how much less of it he owns today than he did less than two years ago, when it went public.

The space tourism company has spent the last 17 years developing an air-launched rocket plane capable of carrying passengers and scientific payloads on brief trips 86 km (53.5 miles) above the earth. In 2019, it became the first publicly traded spaceflight company.

At the time, the company’s forecasts for operations and revenue were seen as unlikely at best, and that has proven true, thanks in part to the pandemic. Even after this flight, there were no announcements about regular passenger service. But that hasn’t stopped investors from buying into the firm—or Branson from cashing out, garnering $818 million in the process.

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