Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity supersonic aircraft during a test on May 29, 2018. - Virgin Galactic / AP / SIPA

The craze is such that the space tourism company Virgin Galactic has decided to put places back on the market. The company, which plans to send its first customers to space by summer 2020, has more than doubled its reservations since the end of September and now has 7,957 people on its waiting list.

A loss of $ 72.7 million

Virgin Galactic had stopped formally selling tickets after its first try in space in December 2018. But after having registered 603 firm reservations from 60 countries at a price of up to $ 250,000 per ticket, the company has continued to receive numerous requests. The company is therefore now preparing to offer for sale a new series of seats from Wednesday, each aspiring astronaut having to pay a deposit of 1,000 dollars.

Management also disclosed on Tuesday that it had generated revenue of $ 529,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019, for a loss of 72.7 million. Over the whole year, the group lost a total of $ 211 million. Virgin Galactic was down more than 7% in electronic trading on the New York Stock Exchange. But this decline remains relatively moderate since, just a few months after arriving on Wall Street, the company founded by Richard Branson in 2004 has become one of the most prominent actions. It was still displayed at the close, up 195% from the start of the year. Virgin Galactic competes directly in its niche with Blue Origin, the company founded by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.

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