The Spaceship Company

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The Spaceship Company
Type Private
Founded Mojave, California (2005)
Headquarters Mojave, California
Key people Burt Rutan and Richard Branson (Founders)
Industry Aerospace
Products spacecraft manufacturing

The Spaceship Company is a spacecraft manufacturing company formed by Burt Rutan and Richard Branson in mid-2005, jointly owned by Virgin Group and Scaled Composites, which will own the technology created by Scaled for Virgin Galactic's Virgin SpaceShip program. This includes developments on the care-free reentry system and cantilevered-hybrid rocket motor, licensed from Paul Allen and Burt Rutan's Mojave Aerospace. The company will manufacture Virgin Galactic's spacecraft and will sell spacecraft to other buyers. The suborbital launch system offered will be Tier 1b, that of SpaceShipTwo and White Knight Two.

The launch customer for the company and SS2/WK2 will be Virgin Galactic, having placed an order for five SpaceShipTwos and two White Knight Twos, with a 1½-year exclusivity clause.

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