Work Continues On Second Spacecraft Already Under Construction

Virgin Galactic says that about 20 of the 700 people who have paid deposits for a flight aboard the company's suborbital space vehicle have asked for refunds, but the company did not say which prospective astronauts have decided against the trip, or why they chose to ask for their money back.

The slot for a flight aboard a Virgin Galactic spacecraft was set at about $250,000. The U.K. newspaper The Guardian reports that Sir Richard Branson's company had collected nearly $80 million from people who wanted the experience of traveling into space.

Cancellations account for about three percent of the people who have reserved their place on the spacecraft when it begins carrying passengers ... though last Friday's accident will likely push that event well into the future.

But Reuters reports that fabrication of a second spacecraft that was already under construction at Scaled Composites is continuing. The spacecraft in the hangar is an identical twin to SpaceShipTwo. Virgin Galactic says it hope to have the new ship flying by the end of 2015.

FMI: www.virgingalactic.com