Does this mean the space race is over?
British multi-billionaire Richard Branson (70, wealth: around US$7.5 billion) wants to fly into space on July 11, with the help of his space company Virgin Galactic – in front of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (57)!
The company surprisingly announced the planned “Unity 22” mission date on Thursday. In addition to the two pilots, four passengers, including Branson, are said to fly in the space capsule. If the July 11 launch date is left, Branson will use this flight to propel Jeff Bezos (assets: US$199 billion) over a full nine days.
“I’ve always been a dreamer,” Branson wrote on Twitter. His mother taught him to never give up and reach for the stars. Now is the time to make that dream a reality.
Amazing: Bezos’s space company Blue Origin had already announced a manned flight with rocket “New Shepard” on July 20. The world’s richest man wants to take his brother and 82-year-old former American pilot on his first flight into space.
Throughout all these announcements, Branson was silent – and now he clearly outranks Bezos in the billionaire space race.
In May, Virgin Galactic’s “VSS Unity” spacecraft completed a manned space test flight with two pilots. The capsule was launched in a carrier aircraft from Spaceport America, the commercial spaceport in the US state of New Mexico. Mother Ship downed “VSS Unity” at an altitude of about 14 kms. Then the space capsule accelerated with its own rocket engine and continued flying.
