Virgin Galactic shares fell after spaceflight delay announcement
Virgin Galactic stock fell on Friday after it announced a delay in a spaceflight test that was scheduled for over the coming weekend.
Stock in the Richard Branson owned space company fell over 11% in early trading after having jumped 13% the day before.
“We have been progressing through our pre-flight preparations and, during that process, we have decided to allow more time for technical checks. We are working to identify the next flight opportunity,” Virgin Galactic said in a statement.
The upcoming spaceflight test is a redo of the December attempt which the company aborted mid-launch.
America's Federal Aviation Authority had said that the spaceflight was on track to launch as early as Saturday and on Thursday the company had said it was making good progress through the flight’s preparations.
The value of the company’s stock, which has soared 450% since it went public in late 2019, has reached a market valuation of near $14bn.