I’ll be honest with you. Three minutes of weightlessness for the price of a very nice house sounds absurd to me. Even so, hundreds of people have already lined up to experience it.
Most recently, Virgin Galactic unveiled Apeiron, the first spaceplane in its new Delta class. The company flew it from its Arizona factory to Spaceport America in New Mexico, where it will begin flight testing.
What makes Apeiron different from the old spaceplane?
Apeiron replaces VSS Unity, which completed seven suborbital flights in 2023 and 2024 before Virgin Galactic paused operations to cut costs and focus on its successor. Its name means “boundless” in ancient Greek and was chosen through a public vote involving participants from 83 countries.
Apeiron can carry six passengers instead of four. Virgin Galactic says it also requires less maintenance between flights, helping the company aim for up to eight flights a month, compared with roughly one a month for Unity.
And now, for the interesting part. After the Eve carrier plane lifts Apeiron to around 44,500 feet and releases it, the spaceplane’s rocket engine carries it to a peak altitude of 54.2 miles (87 kilometers). Passengers can then unbuckle and float for three to four minutes.
Fun fact: 54.2 miles is below the 62-mile Kármán line, a commonly used boundary of space. So, I’d say “almost space” is a fair description.
Who will fly, and how much will it cost?
Virgin Galactic says commercial flights are expected to begin in early Q2 2027, a timeline I’m cautiously optimistic about. A seat reportedly costs $750,000, based on the price quoted earlier this year.
The company is preparing more than 100 ticket holders for an initial round of flights, while more than 600 people are waiting in the queue. Clearly, demand isn’t the problem. At $750,000 per seat, those bookings represent a potential $525 million in ticket sales. That’s an astonishing amount of money for a few minutes of weightlessness.
A second Delta-class spaceplane is expected in late Q2 or early Q3 2027, not long after the first. With Blue Origin having paused its suborbital space tourism flights in January for at least two years, Virgin Galactic could have the market largely to itself once flights resume.
In my opinion, the real test is whether Virgin Galactic can turn those expensive tickets and more frequent flights into a sustainable business. Until then, unless you have $750,000 lying around, you and I will have to settle for watching from the ground.
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