Virgin Galactic announced, on July 6, an agreement with Aurora Flight Sciences, a subsidiary of Boeing, to partner in the design and manufacture of the company’s next-generation motherships.
The mothership is the two-fuselage, air-launch system-bearing aircraft that transports the spacecraft to its launch altitude of approximately 50,000 feet (15,000 meters).
Based in Virginia, Aurora brings more than 30 years of experience building high-end aircraft and specializes in new aircraft configurations and complex compounds. Virgin Galactic has been working with Aurora over the past few months to develop design specifications as well as long-term labor and resource requirements. The two-vehicle contract announced today will allow Aurora to immediately begin development.
Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said: “Our next-generation motherships are critical to scaling our operations. They will be faster to produce, easier to maintain and allow us to do substantially more missions each year. Backed by Boeing’s scale and strength, Aurora is the ideal manufacturing partner for us as we build our fleet to support 400 flights a year on Spaceport America.”
Virgin Galactic’s manufacturing strategy is designed to leverage third-party suppliers to improve efficiencies, access new innovations and technologies, and leverage existing pools of highly skilled labor. This allows the company’s internal team to focus on complex and critical elements such as design, engineering and final assembly.
Aurora plans to manufacture the aircraft at its Columbus, Mississippi and Bridgeport, West Virginia facilities. Final assembly of the motherships will be completed at Virgin Galactic’s Mojave, California facility.
The first new mothership is expected to enter service in 2025, the same year that Virgin Galactic’s first Delta-class spacecraft is due to begin payload flights. The company’s next trade missions are expected in the first quarter of 2023.
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