How far is Lower Bucks County from Outer Space?
Not that far, perhaps. Environmental Tectonics Corp. (AMEX:ETC) in Southampton has signed a contract with Virgin Galactic, a company owned by Virgin Group's Richard Branson to provide training for Virgin Galactic's suborbital space travelers -- the first set of space tourists. At first, Environmental Tectonics will train Virgin Galactic's Founders, the name given to the first 100 travelers to sign on with Virgin Galactic. But the contract extends beyond those travelers, the company said. Training runs September through November at Environmental Tectonics' NASTAR Center in Southampton.
Environmental Tectonics creates software that provides flight simulation so pilots can learn to respond in an emergency. But so far, they haven't managed to create the software that will teach chairman William F. Mitchell and the rest of management how to respond to three years of losses and declining revenues. Nonetheless, at least for today, shares are up and trading is brisk -- maybe that's because of today's announcement, or because of Tuesday's news that the company's largest investor, former cable-television executive H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest sunk another $3.3 million in the company, by buying 3,300 shares of preferred stock.
