What happened Shares of would-be space tourism company Virgin Galactic Holdings (NYSE: SPCE) -- the company that lit the fuse on the series of recent special purpose acquisition IPOs of new-space companies back in 2019 -- are crashing in Wednesday morning trading, down 6.9% as of 10:20 a.m. EDT. For this, I blame a space company that hasn't even IPO'd yet: Blue Origin. Image source: Getty Images. So what Earlier this week Blue Origin led a team of companies ranging from Redwire to Boeing to Sierra Nevada to Blue Origin itself in announcing plans to build a new, privately owned and operated space station called Orbital Reef. Announcing https://twitter.com/hashtag/OrbitalReef?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");-a commercial space station transforming human space travel and opening access to new markets. Our team developing the premier commercial destination in low Earth orbit: https://twitter.com/blueorigin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); https://twitter.com/SierraSpaceCo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); https://twitter.com/BoeingSpace?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); https://twitter.com/RedwireSpace?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); https://twitter.com/ASU?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); https://t.co/PP4wxrfkF3 pic.twitter.com/qJDdYg7BSv — Orbital Reef (@OrbitalReef) https://twitter.com/OrbitalReef/status/1452670248461770761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); One company that was not named as a partner, however, was Blue Origin's archrival in space tourism, Virgin Galactic -- a company that has not yet accomplished a single paying tourism flight to space, whereas Blue Origin has already accomplished two (with a third launch planned before the end of this year). Now what Now, just because Virgin Galactic isn't on the Orbital Reef team doesn't necessarily mean that it won't ever be permitted to send tourists to the new station. (It will, however, have to develop an orbital-class spaceship first). According to Orbital Reef companies, once opened later this decade, this "unique destination" will "open multiple new markets in space" and accommodate "space workers and tourists alike." An "open system architecture" with multiple "module berths, vehicle ports [will] increase as the market grows." Still, at least initially, the spaceships most likely to be able to link up with the space station will be spaceships built by Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada, and Boeing. And if that's the case, then Virgin Galactic's tourism business will remain limited to sending tourists to the edge of space, and bringing them right back down again -- versus Blue Origin's loftier ambitions of giving tourists someplace to visit while they're up there. If I were a space tourist candidate, I think I know which company I'd choose to patronize with my tourism dollars -- and it looks like investors today are coming to the same conclusion. 10 stocks we like better than Virgin Galactic Holdings IncWhen our award-winning analyst team has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* They just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of October 20, 2021 Rich Smith owns shares of Redwire Corporation. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source