Virgin Galactic to open spaceship manufacturing facility in Mesa, Arizona

Virgin Galactic Holdings, an aerospace and space travel company, signed a long-term lease for a new final assembly manufacturing facility in Mesa, Arizona.

The company will produce Delta class spaceships at the facility, it announced in a news release. It anticipates that it will bring hundreds of aerospace engineering and manufacturing jobs to the Greater Phoenix area.

“3…2…1…ready for launch! Welcome aboard, @virgingalactic,” Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said of the news on Twitter. “Another huge manufacturing win for Arizona, creating hundreds of jobs. The new facility in Mesa will be the final assembly point for commercial spaceships.”

The Delta class spaceship is Virgin Galactic’s production vehicle. It is designed to support the company’s goal of 400 flights per year from Spaceport America. The company expects that these ships will “commence revenue-generating payload flights in late 2025, progressing to private astronaut flights in 2026,” according to the news release.

“Our spaceship final assembly factory is key to accelerating the production of our Delta fleet, enabling a rapid increase in flight capacity that will drive our revenue growth,” Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said in the release. “We’re thrilled to expand into the greater Phoenix area, which is home to outstanding aerospace talent – and we look forward to growing our team and fleet at our new facility.”

The Mesa facility is under construction and will be fully operational by late 2023, Virgin Galactic says.

Swami Iyer, Virgin Galactic’s president of Aerospace Systems, said that Mesa’s geography was a factor when selecting the location for the new manufacturing facility.

“Arizona is a growing innovation hub, geographically situated between our existing operations in Southern California and New Mexico,” Iyer said in the release. “This will allow us to accelerate progress from conceptual design to production to final assembly at scale as we capitalize on the many advantages Mesa and the greater Phoenix area offer.”