Companies like Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE) are boldly taking on space travel. It is exciting stuff, as the world and Wall Street watch public companies launch rockets that were once largely only possible with the scale and financial heft of government backing.

The problem is that governments don't have to worry as much about balance sheets, since they can always raise additional tax revenue. Virgin Galactic doesn't have that luxury.

On May 25, 2023, Virgin Galactic proudly issued a news release with the headline: "VIRGIN GALACTIC COMPLETES SUCCESSFUL SPACEFLIGHT." It was in all caps for emphasis, and rightly so. This was a big and important achievement for the company, which is looking to commercialize space travel. Equally important, however, was the sentence, "The Company will now prepare for commercial spaceline operations beginning with the 'Galactic 01' mission planned for late June."

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Source Fool.com