Conclusion
At the time of writing, the Suborbital Tourism Industry had not quite taken off, but had shown
rapid momentum and initiative. The private sector had gotten its act together and early signs
indicated that they had adequate resources to start a major push into this domain. As described
in the paper, a few surveys had been conducted and forecasts had been made in order to
determine the potential of the market. However, in the nascent stages it was hard to justify these
assumptions to a great deal of accuracy. A lot of work remained to be done before spaceflights
became a reality. Although Virgin had finished designing the SpaceShipTwo, there was still
much work to do on the testing side. Testing the functionality and safety standards of the
spacecraft was due to begin in late 2008. Only after successful completion of these tests and the
approval of the FAA, could Virgin think of starting their planned commercial spaceflights.
Virgin Galactic was positioned to take on a leadership role in the emerging industry of space
tourism. Taking advantage of the already well-known Virgin brand name, Virgin Galactic’s
marketing attempts thus far had been successful. Over $35 million had been collected towards
deposits on suborbital spaceflights. It was quite evident from the dynamic marketing strategies of
Virgin Galactic that they planned to become a leader in the area of suborbital space tourism. In
January of 2008, Richard Branson referred to 2008 as the “Year of the Spaceship” at an
unveiling event in New York City (Virgin Galactic, 2008). With so much hype created around the
possibility of the first commercial spaceflight taking place in late 2009, Virgin Galactic could well
lead the way in the commercial travelers’ attempt to venture out into the vast horizons of space.