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Investing.com – Virgin Galactic stock (NYSE:SPCE) soared by more than 9% in Thursday’s premarket trading as the U.S. aviation safety regulator closed its probe into the company’s last spaceflight and gave it the go-ahead to resume launches.
The Federal Aviation Administration was probing the company’s July 11 launch of its first fully-crewed spaceflight, Unity 22, for deviating from its assigned path during its descent back to Earth.
The much-awaited first fully-crewed spaceflight by the company carried its founder and billionaire Richard Branson. The company had also failed to report the error to the FAA as required.
Virgin Galactic said the regulator accepted the proposed changes to how it operates space missions. They include designating a larger area as protected airspace to allow for a variety of trajectories during missions and taking steps to ensure the company communicates with FAA air-traffic control about flights as they take place.
The company said it continues to focus on its pre-flight readiness for Unity 23.
According to a Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) report in August, Virgin’s sole mothership, Eve, and the Unity spaceship are due to be temporarily grounded for maintenance. While they are grounded, there will be no spaceflight by the company. Virgin is also developing its Delta-class spaceship, which will have a shorter turnaround time.
