In addition to more than 600 firm reservations it has already taken from Future Astronaut customers from 60 countries, Virgin Galactic has received a consistently high level of interest from aspiring astronauts.
This has resulted in 7,957 online reservation registrations in the 14 months since the first spaceflight and more than double the number the company last reported in September 2019.
Stephen Attenborough, Virgin Galactic’s commercial director, said, "We have been greatly encouraged by the ongoing and increasing demand seen from around the world for personal spaceflight."
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In light of continuing, strong progress towards commercial service, Virgin Galactic is now preparing to release its next tranche of seats for sale to the general public.
"One Small Step allows us to help qualify and build confidence in our direct sales pipeline, as well as to ensure that those who are most keen to make reservations, are able to do so at the earliest opportunity," Attenborough added.
In the first phase of that process, the company launched its new One Small Step qualification process on Wednesday, 26 February, allowing those who are serious about flying to space to register now and be front of line for firm seat reservations, once they become available.
Virgin Galactic has not yet announced detailed timing or cost information in respect of the next set of seats to be released.
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To take One Small Step, future flyers will pay a fully refundable deposit of US$1,000 ($1,527) in a simple online registration process at www.virgingalactic.com/smallstep/.
When new seats are released by Virgin Galactic, they will be offered first to One Small Step registrants, allowing them to make the One Giant Leap to a confirmed spaceflight reservation and gain full membership of the Virgin Galactic Future Astronaut community.
Virgin Galactic is a vertically-integrated aerospace company, pioneering human spaceflight for private individuals and researchers, as well as a manufacturer of advanced air and space vehicles.
Using its proprietary and reusable technologies and supported by a Virgin-branded customer experience, it is developing a spaceflight system designed to offer customers a unique, multi-day, transformative experience.
This culminates in a spaceflight that includes views of Earth from space and several minutes of weightlessness that will launch from Spaceport America, New Mexico.
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