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Richard Branson races Bezos to space…literally
The space race between billionaires Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson is heating up.
Virgin Galactic announced on Thursday that the space tourism company will attempt to launch its next test spaceflight on July 11, carrying founder Sir Richard Branson.
Branson is aiming to beat fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos to space, as the latter plans to launch with his own company, Blue Origin, on July 20.
“After more than 16 years of research, engineering, and testing, Virgin Galactic stands at the vanguard of a new commercial space industry, which is set to open space to humankind and change the world for good,”
Branson said in a statement
Following the announcement, shares in Virgin Galactic skyrocketed 20 percent during after-hours trade.
The mission will be Virgin Galactic’s fourth test spaceflight to date and its first mission with a crew of four onboard, as the company launched its most recent spaceflight, on May 22, with just two pilots.
“I’m honored to help validate the journey our future astronauts will undertake and ensure we deliver the unique customer experience people expect from Virgin.”
Branson stated
Alongside Branson will be three Virgin Galactic mission specialists: Chief astronaut instructor Beth Moses, lead operations engineer Colin Bennett, and government affairs VP Sirisha Bandla. Virgin Galactic pilots Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci will fly the company’s VSS Unity spacecraft.
Virgin Galactic said it will livestream the spaceflight for the first time, a feed that will be available on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.