Here’s Virgin Galactic’s new Apeiron spaceship

The lead Spaceship’s first commercial spaceflight is now expected in early Q2 2027, and the second Spaceship is expected to begin commercial spaceflight operations in late Q2/early Q3 2027. The updated timeline reflects additional time for completing avionics software integration and validation, which uses an exhaustive testing process. That testing will conclude at Spaceport America as the lead Spaceship is readied for its flight test series.

Virgin Galactic had previously delayed its next commercial spaceflight to February 2027, rather than late 2026. It’s now been over two years since Virgin Galactic’s last commercial spaceflight in June 2024, when it retired its VSS Unity spacecraft. Apeiron is leaving Virgin Galactic’s Mesa, Arizona Spaceship Factory on Wednesday onboard a captive-carry flight with its Eve launch vehicle, heading to Spaceport America in New Mexico, where Virgin Galactic says its “engineering team plans to complete avionics software validation before beginning flight tests.”