Bend the Richest Man into Space, This is Richard Branson's explanation

 

Entrepreneur and founder of Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson will fly into space this weekend, ahead of Jeff Bezos. Although the flight time is close, Branson admits that there is no competition between himself and the founder of Amazon.

"I know no one will believe me when I say it, but honestly, there is no competition," Branson said in an interview with the Today program, as quoted by Business Insider, Wednesday (7/7/2021).

Be aware, Bezos first announced that he would fly into space with Blue Origin's first manned flight on July 20. But last week Branson announced that he would go into space on July 11, nine days ahead of Bezos' flight.

Branson founded Virgin Galactic in 2004 to build a space tourism business. The 70-year-old feels that the world will benefit from many companies offering spaceflight.

Branson will fly into space on the VSS Unity spacecraft to sub-orbital altitude. He admits that he can't wait to fly like an astronaut.

   

"And you know, at that moment, we're going to be astronauts. I'm going to pinch myself. And pinch myself over and over again. I can't wait," he said.

Branson will not be flying alone, and he will be accompanied by three Virgin Galactic employees: Chief Astronaut Instructor Beth Moses, Principal Operations Engineer Colin Bennett, and Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations Sirisha Bandla.

Although Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin both offer sub-orbital flights, the journeys offered by these two companies have many differences.

For example, Blue Origin will fly its passengers using rockets and capsules, while Virgin Galactic will use VSS Unity which looks like an airplane. Blue Origin's flights will also reach higher altitudes than Virgin Galactic's.

Starting next year, Virgin Galactic hopes to fly 50 passengers into space. The company was given the green light from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly passengers on commercial flights into space.

In addition to Branson, Virgin Galactic has also received many ticket orders from celebrities such as Tom Hanks, Justin Bieber, and Lady Gaga. There are currently 700 people who have signed up to join the Virgin Galactic tour with ticket prices starting at USD 250,000.