Two billionaires want to fly into space within a few days, but there is no such thing as a “space race”. At least that is what Richard Branson claims – who is ahead of the curve.
Spaceport America – Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Virgin founder Richard Branson want to fly into space aboard company-owned vehicles within a few days. It sounds like the two billionaires are racing into space, a “space race”. But that’s not the case, Branson assures on the Today Show. “I know nobody will believe me, but there is no competition,” said the billionaire in the episode on July 6, 2021.
Richard Branson is considered an adventurer, he has been working for years with his company Virgin Galactic on tourist flights into space. On July 11th, the 70-year-old Branson wants to fulfill his dream, which he says he has had since the first moon landing on July 20th, 1969. Just nine days later, and therefore exactly on the 52nd anniversary of the first Apollo 11 moon landing, Jeff Bezos will climb a space capsule from his company Blue Origin and also be launched into space.
Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos: Billionaires Rush Into Space
Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin want to transport tourists into space in the future. According to Branson, there is “enough space” in the market for several companies. So far there should be around 750 registrations for space flights from Virgin Galactic – a seat should cost up to 250,000 dollars. Blue Origin has not yet announced the cost of a flight into space with the “New Shepard” rocket – but it is known what a person not yet known by name paid for a place on board the first suborbital flight with humans: 28 Million dollars.
While Virgin Galactic will have several employees on board alongside Richard Branson to review the “astronaut experience” for future customers, Jeff Bezos will be his brother Mark and his brother Mark and take flight pioneer Wally Funk into space.
Jeff Bezos or Richard Branson: who crosses the boundary into space?
Even if, according to Branson, there is no such thing as a “space race” of billionaires: In the end, it will be discussed which of the billionaires was in space: Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity has only managed to exceed the 80-kilometer mark so far, which is considered by the US aviation authority FAA as the boundary to outer space. Internationally, however, the so-called Kármán line at an altitude of about 100 kilometers is considered the boundary to space. Blue Origin’s capsule has already exceeded this height several times.
Bezos has not yet commented on Branson’s current plans. But he has already pointed out in the past that the altitude of the flight also matters, as the industry portal Space.com reports. “It was always our mission that we wanted to fly over the Kármán Line,” Space.com quotes Bezos from 2019. He does not want asterisks on the names of his fellow passengers, whether they are “astronauts or not,” said Bezos further. Then, referring to Virgin Galactic, he went on to say, “This is something I think you have to deal with.”
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Another billionaire wants to venture into space later this year: Jared Isaacman has booked a flight aboard a “Crew Dragon” capsule from SpaceX. The space capsule will orbit the earth for three days. Isaacman takes three people on the trip – SpaceX boss Elon Musk is not there. The billionaire has already sent people on board his space capsules to the ISS several times, but does not seem to be planning his own trip into space, at least in the near future. (tab)
Headline list image: © Ted S. Warren / dpa
