VIRGIN GALACTIC VOYAGE TURNS FOUNDER RICHARD BRANSON’S DREAM INTO REALITY
▶ If successful, British businessman will beat rival Jeff Bezos in the space race between the two billionaires
Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson is preparing to travel into space today in a rocket-powered plane built by his company.
The launch will be shown by live stream on Virgin Galactic’s website and across social media channels.
If successful, the British businessman, 70, will beat Amazon founder and rival Jeff Bezos in the billionaire space race.
“I’ve always been a dreamer. My mum told me never to give up and to reach for the stars. This July, our dreams will be becoming a reality,” he said.
The Unity 22 mission, launching from Spaceport America in New Mexico, about 338 kilometres from Santa Fe, the state capital, is the first fully crewed flight by Virgin Galactic and includes five other passengers.
Carrier jet VMS Eve, named after Mr Branson’s mother, will release the VSS Unity space plane at an altitude of about 15,240 metres, which will then climb to the edge of space.
The crew will experience about four minutes of weightlessness when the plane flies at an apex of approximately 89 kilometres above the New Mexico desert.
Last week, rival space tourism company Blue Origin said that the Karman line – the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space – begins at 100 kilometres above sea level.
Mr Bezos, founder of Blue Origin, announced in June that he would fly on the New Shephard to space on July 20.
“From the beginning, New Shepard was designed to fly above the Karman line, so none of our astronauts have an asterisk next to their name,” Blue Origin said on Twitter yesterday, suggesting Blue Origin crew and passengers would be considered proper astronauts because they crossed the Karman line.
“For 96 per cent of the world’s population, space begins 100 kilometres up at the internationally recognised Karman line.
“Only 4 per cent of the world recognises a lower limit of 80 kilometres as the beginning of space. New Shepard flies above both boundaries.”
This was “one of the many benefits of flying with Blue Origin,” the company said.
According to Nasa and the US Federal Aviation Administration, however, outer space begins at 80 kilometres above sea level.
Mr Branson told Reuters: “It wasn’t a race.”
“If it’s a race, it’s a race to produce wonderful spaceships that can make many more people be able to access space. And I think that’s both of our aims,” he said.
Why is Richard Branson going to space?
This will be Virgin Galactic’s 22nd test flight and will carry a full crew of two pilots and four mission specialists.
Apart from achieving his lifelong goal of going to space, Mr Branson will test the private astronaut experience.
“I truly believe that space belongs to all of us. After more than 16 years of research, engineering and testing, Virgin Galactic stands at the vanguard of a new commercial space industry,” he said.
“As part of a remarkable crew of mission specialists, I’m honoured to help validate the journey our future astronauts will undertake and ensure we deliver the unique customer experience people expect from Virgin,” Mr Branson said.
More than 600 passenger tickets priced at $250,000 have been sold so far, according to Virgin Galactic.
Blue Origin auctioned off a ticket on New Shepard’s first passenger flight for $28 million last month.
A crew of four are part of the flight, including Mr Bezos, 82-year-old aviator Wally Funk – one of the Mercury 13 women candidate astronauts who never flew to space – Mr Bezos’s brother Mark and the auction winner.
How to watch
The live stream of the launch will begin at 5pm, Gulf Standard Time, today.
The journey into space will be broadcast live on Virgin Galactic’s website and social media channels.