Virgin Galactic plans to become the world's first commercial spaceline by offering space flights to tourists before the end of the decade. Virgin has been taking reservations for its space flights since 2005 and has currently received deposits from around 600 potential passengers. However, before the company can take paying passengers, it must satisfy the Civil Aviation Authorities that the flights are safe. To that end, the company must make at least 30 crewed flights into space successfully. These crewed flights also enable the company to fine tune the flight experience. The first of these crewed flights occurred in 2010 and since then, the company has made 16 of the required 30 test flights. Virgin Galactic is in which stage of the new product development process?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Virgin Galactic is currently in the product development stage, as it is fine tuning its product and conducting test flights to ensure safety and improve the customer experience before launching its commercial flights. The other stages of the new product development process (concept development, concept testing, business analysis, and test marketing) have already been completed to some extent, as the company has been taking reservations and conducting initial tests.

Virgin Galactic Plans to Become the World's First Commercial Spaceline