RICHARD BRANSON

THE Virgin tycoon won the big boys’ blast-off earlier this month – beating arch rival Bezos by nine days. Branson, 71, became the first person to ride to the edge of space aboard a rocket plane he helped fund. Developed by Virgin Galactic, it roared into the sky over New Mexico on July 11 with the billionaire and three other crew members on board, reaching an altitude of 55.3 miles.

But Beardy was left somewhat singed by Amazon owner Bezos who reached 66 miles high in his New Shepard rocket on July 20 – above the so-called Karman line which is widely regarded as the boundary between our atmosphere and outer space.

The pair have been in fierce competition for two decades. Bezos created his space venture Blue

Origin in 2000, before Elon Musk had SpaceX or

Branson launched

Virgin Galactic.

Branson, worth about £3.5billion, has never been one to shy away from a publicitygrabbing challenge

– however bizarre.

He ran the London Marathon in a butterfly costume in 2010, appeared as an air hostess on a flight in 2013 after losing a bet – and wore a wedding dress to promote his new bridal store. The Londoner and father of three grown-up children tried twice to fly around the world in a hot air balloon, and drove across the Channel in an amphibious car.

Branson also bungee jumped off the 407-feet high Palms Hotel Casino in Las Vegas in 2007, ripping his pants.

He has been married twice, first to American designer Kristen Tomassi. He has been with second wife, Glaswegian Joan Templeman, since 1989. They live on £90million private Necker Island in the tax-free Caribbean British

Virgin Islands.

He said he spent his historic flight making notes on how he could improve the experience for customers. Around 600 have already signed up for a 90-minute flight – with the fare around £180,000.