Virgin Galactic (SPCE  ) shares were more than 30% higher as the company made ticket sales open to the general public with a $150,000 deposit. Currently, there are 3 different tiers of tickets with the lowest at $450,000. The lowest tier is for a single seat while the other tiers cover packages for families or groups and to book entire flights.

Following the news, the company's stock closed 32% higher. Despite this bounce, the stock has been mired in a brutal bear market like a lot of high-multiple growth stocks due to rising inflation and higher rates which make speculative investments less attractive.

Virgin Galactic went public in late 2019 after being founded in 2017 through a SPAC. From there, the stock trended higher especially as growth stocks were en vogue during the first phase of the bull market with space as seen as the next, hot growth market by many investors, and Virgin Galactic as the leading space tourism company.

From its low in November 2019 of $6.90, the stock climbed more than 800% before topping in February 2021. Since then, it's had an equally dramatic change in fortune as it has declined by 85%. Currently, Virgin Galactic has a valuation of $2.9 billion, and the risk-reward for the stock has to be considered much more favorable given that it successfully tested its first flights.

Now, the bigger question is how much demand will there be for these flights at this price point. And, what will the economics of its business be especially as more competition emerges. Up till now, the company had reservations between $200,000 and $250,000 from 600 customers. In essence, this was a seed investment of sorts.

Virgin Galactic could possibly be following a similar path to Tesla (TSLA  ) as its spaceflights could be very expensive and a premium item, but this allows it to generate some revenue which can be used for product development for the next generation of products at a lower price point that can be sold at a much higher scale.

Thus, Virgin Galactic's business size is capped if it's only selling to consumers at this price point. However, if it can successfully bring down prices, then the company has the potential to generate much more impressive returns for investors.

In terms of the broader market, headwinds remain for growth stocks. However, valuations have significantly improved and conditions look ripe for some sort of countertrend move.