2005-2010
The company was founded in 2005 by Burt Rutan and Richard Branson, and was initially jointly owned by Virgin Group and Scaled Composites, to own the technology created by Scaled for Virgin Galactic's Virgin SpaceShip program. Virgin Galactic was announced to be the launch customer for the SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo vehicles. Virgin placed an initial order for five SpaceShipTwos and two WhiteKnightTwos,[6] with "exclusive use of the systems for the initial 18 months of commercial passenger operations."[7]
By late 2010, the company had announced plans to build three WhiteKnightTwo aircraft and five SpaceShipTwo rocket planes.
2011-present
Since the first WK2 and the first SS2 were built by Scaled Composites, TSC had responsibility for the manufacture of the second WK2 aircraft (not built as of 2024) and the second SS2 spacecraft for Virgin Galactic, as well as additional production craft as other customers for the vehicles would emerge.[8]
Virgin Galactic acquired 100% ownership of TSC in 2012, by acquiring the 30% stake still owned by Scaled Composites,[9] which itself had been acquired by Northrop Grumman.[10]
The company had grown to 70 persons by July 2011, 145 by June 2013, 250 by July 2014, and 430 by July 2018.
In June 2013, Doug Shane joined TSC to become executive VP and general manager, ending a 31-year career with Scaled Composites, including five as president.[11][12] In July 2014, Shane was named president of the company.[13]
In 2016, it was announced that TSC, Virgin Galactic, and the Virgin Group, would be collaborating with Boom Technology to develop a supersonic trans-oceanic passenger jetliner.
By February 2018, The Spaceship Company was "duplicating and testing prototypes of an original design of SpaceShipTwo" with the goal of sending a model into space in 2019.[14] It was building models for Virgin Galactic.[15]
