CEO George Whitesides Says Company Has Lost Only About Three Percent Of Potential Customers

Virgin Galactic has nearly completely recovered ... in terms of potential passengers ... from the flight-test accident last October which fatally injured SpaceShipTwo co-pilot Michael Alsbury.

The U.K. newspaper The Telegraph reports that, according to Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides, about 30 people cancelled their reservations, for which they had placed a $250,000 deposit. Whitesides told the paper that the "early customer group has been quite firm," with only a three percent cancellation rate.

After the accident, Virgin Galactic told its potential space travelers that it could not give them a firm timeline for when commercial operations would actually begin. When Sir Richard Branson founded the company in 2004, he predicted that they would be flying space tourists by 2009. “It’ll be ready when it’s ready,” Whitesides told the paper.

Virgin Galactic, as you probably know, is also working on a new venture to launch satellites from a modified version of WhiteKnightTwo, which has been dubbed LauncherOne, in an effort to diversify its space business.

Meanwhile, Virgin Galactic said the new SpaceShipTwo should be ready to begin flight testing by the end of 2015.

(Top image from the NTSB. Bottom image provided by Virgin Galactic)

FMI: www.virgingalactic.com