The company was originally formed by Virgin Group and Scaled Composites (the company which had built SpaceShipOne, the first privately-funded spacecraft to launch astronauts into space, winning the Ansari X Prize in 2004). Later on, Virgin Group bought out Scaled Composites, leading to Virgin Galactic.
Though the company does provide limited launch services for sub-orbital flights of experiments, the primary line-of-business is sub-orbital tourism.
A failure during powered flight in 2014 cost the lives of the pilot and co-pilot of a SpaceShipTwo spacecraft. After a stand-down, Virgin Galactic returned to flight.
