Richard Branson waves to the crowd after landing at the $209 million spaceport that New Mexican taxpayers are building for him in 2010. From left to right are then-New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and then-New Mexico Spaceport Authority Executive Director Rick Homans.
The Observer’s Richard Wachman asks an interesting question I’ve been wondering about a lot lately:
Virgin brands: What does Richard Branson really own?
The sprawling business empire that makes up Richard Branson’s Virgin investment group consists of about 400 operations, a tangled web of enterprises owned via a complicated series of offshore trusts and overseas holding companies.
Branson’s finances are difficult to penetrate because of their complexity and opaqueness, with few of his large companies wholly owned by Branson himself. His big-branded firms such as Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Money, Virgin Media and Virgin Trains have other major shareholders. In some cases, he simply licenses the brand to a company that has purchased a subsidiary from him, and these include Virgin Mobile USA, Virgin Mobile Australia, Virgin Radio and Virgin Music (now part of EMI). In return, as the licence holder of the Virgin brand, he receives annual or triennial fees that can amount to hundreds of millions over time.
By forging partnerships with cash-rich allies, Branson has established new businesses without depleting the group’s reserves and spending little to establish new ventures in sectors such as mobile telecoms. But initiatives come straight from Branson, who prides himself on his ability to spot a gap in the market. He is not a numbers or a details man and leaves the everyday running of his firms to a group of lieutenants.
Which brings us to Virgin Galactic. And the numbers there are really interesting.
Prince Harry and his brother, Prince William, on a typical day out in Central London. (Photo credit: Staszek99)
As part of our continuing effort to keep its readers up to date on all things Celebritynaut, Parabolic Arc is proud to present the latest British royal who is determined to fly into space.
Yes, it’s Harry!
No, not Harry Potter. Prince Harry. That House of Windsor guy.
It seems that the British Royal, now an active duty helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, is keen on undergoing astronaut training with NASA and flying aboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. And better yet, for all you royal scandal lovers out there, Harry’s bid to become the first British royal in space could tear the British monarchy apart!
VIRGIN PR – LAS CRUCES, N.M. -Virgin Galactic will take another step toward opening a new era of space travel by formally dedicating its new home at Spaceport America in southern New Mexico on Monday, Oct. 17, 2011. Sir Richard Branson will attend the event, which will include a press conference and dedication ceremony, along with more than 150 future Virgin Galactic astronauts from around the world. The Terminal Hangar Facility will serve as the operating hub for Virgin Galactic and will house up to two WhiteKnightTwos and five SpaceShipTwos, in addition to all of Virgin’s astronaut preparation facilities and mission control.
VG PR – MOJAVE, CA - Virgin Galactic has confirmed an order from NASA for up to three charter flights on its privately-built spacecraft to provide opportunities for engineers, technologists, and scientific researchers to conduct cutting-edge experiments in suborbital space. The agreement calls for NASA to charter a full flight from Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial spaceline, and includes options for two additional charter flights. If all options are exercised, the contract value is $4.5 million.
VG PR ― LAS CRUCES, N.M. ― Virgin Galactic is pleased to announce the appointment of former NASA executive Michael P. Moses as the Vice President of Operations. Just days prior to the dedication of the company’s operational headquarters at Spaceport America in New Mexico, Virgin has named the highly respected human spaceflight leader to oversee the planning and execution of all operations of the company’s commercial suborbital spaceflight program at the site.
Mike Melvill stands atop SpaceShipOne after a suborbital flight on Sept. 29, 2004. (Credit: RenegadeAven)
Seven year ago today, SpaceShipOne rocketed into space for the third and final time, claiming the $10 million Ansari X Prize. Amid the resulting euphoria, Sir Richard Branson promised to begin regular tourist flights in about three years with a follow-on spacecraft.
Ah, what a difference 2,556 days make. No one has flown suborbital since, commercial flights remain 18-24 months away, and some people have grown impatient:
Venture capitalist Alan Walton has trekked to the North Pole, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and skydived over Mount Everest. A hop into space to enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness would have been the ultimate adventure.
After waiting seven years to fly aboard Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spaceline, Walton gave up on the dream and asked for a $200,000 ticket refund on his 75th birthday this past spring.
Attenborough: [Launching our first commercial flight] 18 months to two years from now is achievable, but that isn’t to say that we will achieve it. The only thing that will extend that expected timeline is if something comes up during the remainder of the test flight program.
Or so Virgin Galactic’s Commercial Director Stephen Attenborough tells The Wall Street Journal’s Chun Han Wong . The company’s founder, Richard Branson, has been making similar predictions for years now.
Aviation Week has an update on SpaceShipTwo’s progress:
George Whitesides, president and CEO of Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company (TSC), says recent full-duration firing tests of the Sierra Nevada RM2 rocket motor are encouraging and point the way to integration with the SS2 early next year. Powered flight tests will begin with short-duration 15-sec. burns before building up to a full-duration suborbital flight before the end of 2012.
“We’ve got a bit more work to do,” Whitesides says. After more glide tests later this year to confirm aerodynamic and control improvements, he adds “next year we will integrate the motor and aim to conduct powered flights around the fall.”
Mark Sirangelo, Sierra Nevada chairman and executive vice president, says a recent 55-sec. burn at the company’s Poway test facility near San Diego confirmed the hybrid motor is on track for integration. “We were encouraged by the power we got out of that. We’ve got the reaction up to where it needs to be.”
During an appearance at Stanford University on Tuesday, Virgin Galactic Vice President William Pomerantz said that the company has accepted payments for 450 seats totaling approximately $60 million.
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