Virgin Galactic names new Spaceship Apeiron and prepares Delta-class for Spaceport America

This is a new development in a story we reported earlier: Virgin Galactic will fly lead Spaceship to Spaceport America on Oct. 28, 2026.

Virgin Galactic announced on Oct. 28, 2026 that its new Delta-class spaceship is named Apeiron and would travel to Spaceport America in New Mexico attached to the launch vehicle Eve. This announcement is a new development in the company’s program to replace Unity with the Delta-class successor.

The company said the name Apeiron, pronounced App-Err-On, comes from the ancient Greek word for the boundless, and that it represents infinite possibilities for individuals and collectively. Chief Executive Officer Michael Colglazier said the name reflects the ambition of human spaceflight and the possibilities it creates for humanity. He added that the company is proud the lead ship carries a name picked by the public. Virgin Galactic said a public vote chose Apeiron from thousands of submissions spanning 83 countries and six continents, according to the company’s Oct. 28, 2026 announcement.

Before the public vote, Virgin Galactic collected 276 name suggestions from its own employees and narrowed them to four finalists – Horizon, Explorer, Ascend, and Apeiron. The public vote ran from Aug. 11 to Aug. 27, 2026, and anyone over age 13 could take part. Until that week in August, Virgin Galactic had referred to the Delta class as the Spaceship, and the company needed a proper name once commercial operations started.

Autoevolution reported on Aug. 14, 2026 that commercial operations for the Delta class might begin as soon as the following year. The report said the exact number of Delta vehicles the company plans to build was unclear. Virgin Galactic is assembling Delta-class ships at a new production facility in Mesa, California.

Virgin Galactic said Spaceship Apeiron would travel to Spaceport America attached to Eve on Oct. 28, 2026. The company’s engineering team planned to complete avionics software validation at the spaceport before starting flight tests of the new vehicle. This work is a prerequisite to flight testing, and the company said it would share more program information during its upcoming earnings call. Virgin Galactic expected to give additional program updates during its earnings call for the third quarter of 2026, scheduled for November 2026.

Virgin Galactic’s most recent flight past the Karmann line occurred in 2024, after which it grounded Unity, its only commercial spacecraft at the time, to begin work on the Delta-class successor. Unity completed a total of 12 missions, with seven flights carrying paying customers, according to Autoevolution’s Aug. 14, 2026 report. The report characterized those Unity flights as an early indication of what the more capable Delta vehicles are intended to achieve.

The Delta-class spaceship is a beefed-up version of Unity designed for mass production and able to carry six people alongside two pilots, compared with four on the earlier vehicle. Autoevolution said the new design is supposed to be significantly more capable than Unity and is part of a family meant to transport thousands of people to space.

Autoevolution reported on Aug. 14, 2026 that each vehicle is expected to fly twice weekly and complete up to 500 missions before retirement. Bell Textron is building the feathering system for the Delta-class spaceship while Qarbon Aerospace is making the fuselage and wing, according to Autoevolution’s Aug. 14, 2026 report. The report noted that the feathering system has been a source of both tragedy and pride for Virgin Galactic over the years.

A Kalshi prediction market tracked by Bitcoin.com on Sept. 14, 2026 priced an 88 percent chance that Virgin Galactic would launch its next commercial Delta-class spaceship before July 2027, with far lower odds for earlier dates. The market, labeled KXSPCELAUNCH-COMM-27JAN01, would resolve to Yes if the launch occurred after issuance and before January 1, 2027. Bitcoin.com’s tracking of the market appeared on Sept. 14, 2026.

Autoevolution’s Aug. 14, 2026 report questioned whether enough customers would pay $750,000 for a few minutes of zero gravity to justify Delta’s twice-weekly flight schedule. The report cited the ticket price as a factor in determining whether thousands of people would buy flights on the Delta fleet.