Branson has edge in billionaire space race
Sir Richard Branson plans to make astronautical history tomorrow (NZ time) by becoming the first billionaire in space.
If his schedule holds, the 70-yearold Virgin Galactic founder will lift off tomorrow afternoon from a runway near the small town of Truth and Consequences in New Mexico on the maiden passenger flight of his company’s SpaceShipTwo spaceplane.
Dubbed VSS Unity, it will be lifted to about 50,000ft by a specially made aeroplane before detaching from the mother ship, firing its hybrid rocket engine and climbing beyond Earth’s atmosphere into space.
Sir Richard will then enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness and unbeatable views through Unity’s 12 windows, before re-entering the atmosphere and gliding back down to a conventional landing between one and two hours after launch.
“At that moment, we will have become astronauts,” Branson told a US TV crew last week. “I will pinch myself. And pinch myself again and again. I can’t wait.”
This is the experience that Virgin hopes to begin selling to space tourists as early as next year, with 700 customers already having bought tickets for between US$200,000 (NZ$286,000) and US$250,000.
If the mission is successful, Branson will narrowly beat his rival Jeff Bezos, who recently stepped down as Amazon CEO to focus on other projects such as his space exploration company Blue Origin.
Bezos and his brother Mark will blast off in a more conventional twostage rocket on July 20.
Another competitor is SpaceX, whose founder Elon Musk, another billionaire, has said there is a 70 per cent chance in the future he will personally live on Mars.