Virgin Galactic’s stock rises 2.4% ahead of first private spaceflight

The VSS Unity spacecraft will transport 80-year-old Jon Goodwin, an early Virgin Galactic ticket holder and Olympian, as well as Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers, a mother and daughter who won their seats on the mission in a draw that raised funds for non-profit Space for Humanity. Schahaff and Mayers are the first mother-daughter duo to fly to space and the first astronauts from the Caribbean, according to Virgin Galactic. Goodwin, who competed as a canoeist for Great Britain at the 1972 Munich Olympics, is the first Olympian and the second person with Parkinson’s disease to go to space, Virgin Galactic said in a statement.

In June, the Galactic 01 mission transported three crew members from the Italian air force and the National Research Council of Italy into space to conduct research on microgravity.

Related: Virgin Galactic hits milestone, but full ramp of commercial operations still ‘years away,’ analyst says

After the Galactic 02 mission, the company has said it expects monthly flights to follow. The cost of a trip to space with Virgin Galactic is $450,000, so customers inevitably come from the ranks of the superwealthy. But demand has been brisk, with Virgin Galactic saying that it has around 800 “future astronauts” signed up.

Earlier this month, Virgin Galactic reported a second-quarter net loss, which it said was primarily driven by an increase in research and development expenses related to development of its future fleet.

Related: Virgin Galactic stock falls on Q2 revenue miss

In a filing in June, the company said it’s seeking to raise $400 million to develop its spaceship fleet and infrastructure and scale up its commercial operations.

Virgin Galactic’s stock has fallen 2.9% this year, compared with the S&P 500 index’s gain of 16.4%.