Bond.az – Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (NYSE:SPCE) shares rose 7.5% in premarket trading Friday after the company announced its VSS Unity spacecraft returned to flight operations at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
Unity completed the first of several planned glide flights designed to prepare pilots and operations teams ahead of new Spaceship operations. The flights support pilot training and build operational readiness across ground crew, maintenance, and Mission Control teams.
According to Virgin Galactic Spaceline President Mike Moses, Unity's glide characteristics and energy-management profile provide a real-world proxy for the company's next generation Spaceship. The glide profile, landing approach and cockpit view match the new vehicle, giving pilots live experience in conditions they will encounter when the new Spaceship takes flight.
Virgin Galactic expects to perform glide tests with its first new Spaceship in the third quarter of 2026 and rocket-powered test flights to space in the fourth quarter of 2026. The next-generation Spaceships are designed to fly twice per week with an expected vehicle lifetime of more than 500 missions.
Separately, the company announced that on May 19, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York granted preliminary approval of a proposed settlement in shareholder derivative actions. The settlement will result in a $2.75 million payment by the company's insurers to Virgin Galactic, half of which the company will retain. Once final approval is issued, all claims in these actions are expected to be dismissed or declared moot.
The company's current and former officers and directors, who are defendants in these actions, have denied all claims and allegations of wrongdoing.
