Richard Branson continues to be in a tight race to be the first to operate a large-scale business bringing tourists into space. On Tuesday, he moved closer to winning a different contest: being the first to achieve that goal with a publicly traded company.

Mr. Branson’s Virgin Galactic announced plans to merge with a public shell company, a deal that would give the space tourism business its first stock listing.

If the deal is completed, Virgin Galactic will be able to sell shares to raise money, a potentially crucial advantage over rivals like Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has so far been less focused on space tourism, and is likely to compete more closely with another of Mr. Branson’s companies, Virgin Orbit.

Neither of those companies is expected to go public anytime soon.

“By embarking on this new chapter, at this advanced point in Virgin Galactic’s development, we can open space to more investors and, in doing so, open space to thousands of new astronauts,” Mr. Branson said in a statement.