Richard Branson, British billionaire, set to blast off on Virgin Galactic spaceflight
Richard Branson will be writing a new chapter in the space age tonight, if all goes according to plan. The space baron will be making the flight aboard his rocket venture, Virgin Galactic, nine days before Amazon founder Jeff Bezos makes his own trip to the fringes of outer space.
British billionaire Sir Richard Branson is all set to launch himself to space, the final frontier, on Sunday along with five others aboard Virgin Galactic's first fully crewed test flight to the edge of space. In doing so, Branson will be one step ahead of his rivals Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk in what has been dubbed the "billionaire space race".
Branson will be making the space trip aboard his company Virgin Galactic's passenger rocket plane, the VSS Unity. The spacecraft will be borne by a twin-fuselage carrier jet dubbed VMS Eve (named for Branson's mother). Photos shared by Virgin Galactic on social media showed the gleaming white spaceplane, all set to make its debut flight up to an altitude of 50,000 feet hoisted on the jet, where it will be released for the rest of its journey through the outer fringe of the Earth's atmosphere.
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Richard Branson will be accompanied by pilots Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci, flying the VSS Unity. Pilots CJ Sturckow and Kelly Latimer will also be there flying the VMS Eve. Others in the crew include chief astronaut instructor Beth Moses and lead operations engineer Colin Bennett. Vice president of government affairs and research operations Sirisha Bandla, the third Indian-origin woman set to head to space, is also a part of the crew.
Branson's debut journey to the frontiers of space will be streamed live across the world by Virgin Galactic through its official social media channels. Just hours ahead of the test flight launch, the company said that the live stream will begin at 6am PT (Pacific Time) on Sunday. This comes down to around 6:30pm IST.
Branson's Virgin Galactic spaceflight, if all goes according to plan, will last about 90 minutes and end where it began - on a runway at Spaceport America near the aptly named town of Truth or Consequences. Although this is the company's 22nd test flight of the spacecraft and its fourth crewed mission beyond the Earth's atmosphere, this particular mission will be the first to carry a full complement of space travelers – two pilots and four "mission specialists," Branson among them.
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Richard Branson had earlier said that he was not interested in participating in some "space race", shortly after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced his plans to make a similar trip on July 20 through his own space company, Blue Origin. However, Branson later decided to launch himself into space nine days before Bezos does to become the first billionaire to do so.
Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and SpaceX founder Elon Musk are all popular for their interest in space and commercial flights. However, if all goes according to plan, Sunday's flight will give Branson the bragging rights over his rivals.
