Shares of Virgin Galactic Holdings (NYSE:SPCE) rose more than 11% Monday on news that the company has opened a new system integration facility in Southern California for its Delta Class spaceships.
Specifically, the stock is up 11.8% at $1.06 per share as of 12:18 pm ET.
The test facility houses a testing platform known as an "Iron Bird." It has begun tests of initial subsystems. The company said it will add components over the course of the year to increase its scope and effectiveness.
"With this approach, Virgin Galactic is moving from a prototype to a production model of developing spaceships – shaving years off the development timeline we saw with VSS Unity," said Virgin Galactic Spaceline President Mike Moses. "The team has hit the ground running – with important testing already underway, supporting our ability to execute key Delta production milestones."
The Virgin Galactic Delta fleet remains on schedule for commercial service to begin in 2026.