The Spaceship Company

The Spaceship Company (TSC) is a British/American spacecraft manufacturing company

that was founded by Burt Rutan and Richard Branson in mid-2005 and was jointly owned by
Virgin Group (70%) and Scaled Composites (30%) until 2012 when Virgin Galactic became
the sole owner.[3] TSC was formed to own the technology created by Scaled for Virgin
Galactic's Virgin SpaceShip program. This includes developments on the care-free
reentry[4] system and cantilevered-hybrid rocket motor, licensed from Paul Allen and Burt
Rutan's Mojave Aerospace. The company is manufacturing Virgin Galactic's spacecraft and
will sell spacecraft to other buyers.[5] The suborbital launch system offered will include the
SpaceShipTwo spacecraft and the White Knight Two carrier aircraft.[6]

The Spaceship Company

Type Private

Industry Aerospace

Founded Mojave, California (2005)

Founders Burt Rutan and Richard Branson

Headquarters Mojave, California[1]

Key people George Whitesides (CEO)

Enrico Palermo (President)
Jon Campagna (CFO)

Products Spacecraft and aircraft production[1]

Number of employees 430 (July 2018)[2]

Parent Virgin Galactic

Website spaceshipcompany.com

History
2005-2010
…
The company was founded in 2005 by Burt Rutan and Richard Branson, and was initially
jointly owned by Virgin Group and Scaled Composites, to own the technology created by
Scaled for Virgin Galactic's Virgin SpaceShip program. Virgin Galactic was announced to be
the launch customer for the SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo vehicles. Virgin placed an
initial order for five SpaceShipTwos and two WhiteKnightTwos,[7] with "exclusive use of the
systems for the initial 18 months of commercial passenger operations."[8]

By late 2010, the company had announced plans to build three WhiteKnightTwo aircraft and
five SpaceShipTwo rocket planes.[9]

2011-present
…
Since the first WK2 and the first SS2 were built by Scaled Composites, TSC has
responsibility for the manufacture of the second WK2 aircraft and the second SS2
spacecraft for Virgin Galactic, as well as additional production craft as other customers for
the vehicles emerge.[10][5]

Virgin Galactic acquired 100% ownership of TSC in 2012, by acquiring the 30% stake still
owned by Scaled Composites,[11] which itself had been acquired by Northrop Grumman.[12]

The company had grown to 70 persons by July 2011,[5] 145 by June 2013,[13] 250 by July
2014,[14] and 430 by July 2018.

In June 2013, Doug Shane joined TSC to become executive VP and general manager, ending
a 31-year career with Scaled Composites, including five as president.[15][13] In July 2014,
Shane was named president of the company.[14]

In 2016, it was announced that TSC, Virgin Galactic, and the Virgin Group, would be
collaborating with Boom Technology to develop a supersonic trans-oceanic passenger
jetliner.[16][17] By February 2018, The Spaceship Company was "duplicating and testing
prototypes of an original design of SpaceShipTwo" with the goal of sending a model into
space in 2019.[18] It is building models for Virgin Galactic.[19]

Spaceship construction

In March 2010, following the construction of the initial prototypes of WhiteKnightTwo and
SpaceShipTwo by Scaled Composites, The Spaceship Company stated in 2010 that it was
moving the aircraft and spacecraft into commercial production.[20]

By July 2014, TSC was halfway complete with the build of the second SpaceShipTwo[14]
—VSS Unity—and is 65 percent complete as of early November 2014. Virgin Galactic rolled
out VSS Unity on 19 February 2016.[21][22] A release by TSC on the company Twitter
account in May 2018 showed two more spacecraft, after VSS Unity, under construction.[23]

As of mid-2014, a second WhiteKnightTwo was also under construction.[14]

Aircraft construction

TSC is collaborating with Boom Technology to create a new supersonic transport. The initial
1/3-size prototype would be the XB-1 "Baby Boom" Supersonic Demonstrator. [16][17]

Production facility

In November 2010, TSC broke ground on a new 68,000-square-foot (6,300 m2) aircraft
assembly plant at Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California. The manufacturing
facility was expected to employ "up to 170 people when production is in full swing."[9]

In July 2011, TSC announced it would begin production of "the first sections for a second
WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft along with the first of multiple SpaceShipTwo (SS2)
suborbital vehicles for Virgin Galactic and, ultimately, other customers" in the "Final
Assembly, Integration and Test Hangar" (FAITH) in the fall of 2011.[5]

In September, 2011, TSC completed construction of the new plant, on schedule, for
US$8,000,000. The production of the new spacecraft—initially three WhiteKnightTwo
aircraft and five of the smaller SpaceShipTwo rocket planes—was also planned to
commence before the end of that month.[24]

The FAITH hangar is intended to be used for building the one-piece composite spars and
wing for WK2, fuselage lay-up for both WK2 and SS2, and "will also be used for major
maintenance and will serve as the companyʼs operating headquarters."[25]

References

i. The SpaceShip Company Archived 2010-03-10 at the Wayback Machine, Virgin

Galactic press release, 2010-01-21, accessed 2010-03-24.
 j. The Spaceship Company - Home site. Accessed: 18 September 2018.

l. "Virgin Galactic acquires full ownership of The Spaceship Company" (Press release).
The Spaceship Company. 2012-10-05. Archived from the original on October 12,
2012. Retrieved April 4, 2013.

m. See section headed "SPACESHIPONE" at the FAQ Page of Scaled Composites'

website for more details.

o. Norris, Guy (2011-07-11). "Scaled And Virgin Lift Veil On Spaceship Production
Progress" . Aviation Week and Space Technology. Retrieved 2011-07-08.

q. "Virgin Galactic Announces LauncherOne – A Satellite Launcher for WhiteKnightTwo"

(Press release). The Spaceship Company. 2012-06-11. Archived from the original on
October 11, 2012. Retrieved April 4, 2013.

s. Davis, Leonard (2005-07-27). "Richard Branson and Burt Rutan Form Spacecraft
Building Company" . SPACE.com. Retrieved 2009-10-17.

t. "Branson And Rutan Launch New Spaceship Manufacturing Company" . ScienceDaily.

2005-07-28. Retrieved 2009-10-17.

u. Hennigan, W.J. (2010-11-08). "Spacecraft factory to break ground in Mojave" . Los

Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-11-09.

iv. Mayer, Steven (2013-04-25). "Tourist spaceship may take key flight on Monday" .
Bakersfield Californian. Archived from the original on 2013-05-01. Retrieved
2013-04-27.

ii. "Virgin Galactic Acquires Full Ownership of The Spaceship Company" (Press
release). 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2012-10-06.

ij. Rich Smith (28 February 2016). "Virgin Galactic Is Back! (But Keep Your Ticket in Your
Pocket)" . The Motley Fool.

il. Messier, Doug (2013-06-28). "Ex-Scaled Composites Boss Doug Shane Moves Over to
The Spaceship Company" . Parabolic Arc. Retrieved 2013-11-03.

im. "Doug Shane Named President of The Spaceship Company" . Citizens in Space.
Retrieved 2014-07-30.

io. Lindsey, Clark (2013-06-28). "Doug Shane named Executive VP and General Manager
of The Spaceship Company" . NewSpace Watch. Retrieved 2013-06-29.

iq. Justin Bachman (4 December 2016). "Colorado-based Boom Technology is bringing

back supersonic. But will the airlines buy it?" . Bloomberg News. The Denver Post.
is. Aiden Burgess (22 November 2016). "Boom Technology reveals commercial
supersonic aircraft prototype with support from Virgin" . The Manufacturer.

it. "Projects are taking off at Spaceship Company" . Tehachapi News. February 8, 2018.
Retrieved November 28, 2018.

iu. Michael Sheetz (April 5, 2018). "Virgin Galactic completes first rocket-powered,
supersonic flight of its new spacecraft, Unity" . CNBC. Retrieved November 28, 2018.

jv. Welcome To TSC , The Spaceship Company webpage, accessed 2010-03-24.

Quotation: "TSC has contracted Scaled Composites to develop and build prototypes of
WK2 and SS2 and TSC is now taking these prototypes into commercial production."

ji. "New SpaceShipTwo Rollout Friday" . AVweb. 18 February 2016. Retrieved

19 February 2016.

jj. "Virgin Galactic unveils new space tourism rocket plane" . CBC News. 19 February
2016. Retrieved 20 February 2016.

jl. TheSpaceshipCompanyVerified account—@TheSpaceshipCo , via Twitter, 31 May

2018, accessed 1 June 2018.

jm. Hennigan, W.J. (2011-09-20). "Firm completes spacecraft factory in Mojave" . Los
Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-09-20.

jo. Norris, Guy (2011-09-21). "SpaceShipTwo Maker Opens For Business" . Aviation
Week and Space Technology. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
General
"Branson and Rutan Form 'The Spaceship Company' To Jointly Manufacture and Market
Spaceships for the new Sub-Orbital Personal Spaceflight Industry" (Press release).
Scaled Composites. July 27, 2005. Retrieved 2007-09-04.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Spaceship Company.

The Spaceship Company

Virgin Galactic video on TSC , as of the opening of the second hangar facility,
September, 2011.