Says US billionaire Branson – and flies into space tomorrow. A few days before competitor Bezos
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Virgin founder Richard Branson want to fly into space on board their own rockets within a few days. It sounds like the two billionaires are racing into space, a “space race”. But that’s not the case, Branson recently assured the “Today Show” on July 6th: “I know nobody will believe me, but there is no competition.”
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 a dream that he claims to have had since the first moon landing on July 20th, 1969. Just nine days later – and thus 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 shot 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 what a flight into space with the “New Shepard” rocket will cost – but it has now been published what a person not yet known by name will pay for a place on board the first suborbital flight with people has: $ 28 million.
While “Virgin Galactic” will have several employees on board alongside Richard Branson, who will review the “astronaut experience” for future customers, Jeff Bezos will be his brother alongside the person who paid $ 28 million Take Mark and the now 82-year-old US aviation pioneer Wally Funk into space.
Who flies higher
Even if, according to Branson, there is no “Space Race” of the billionaires: In the end, it should be discussed which of the two was in space at all: The “VSS Unity” from “Virgin Galactic” has only made it to the 80-kilometer Exceeding the mark recognized by the FAA as the limit of space. Internationally, however, the so-called Kármán line at an altitude of about 100 kilometers is considered the boundary to space. The capsule from “Blue Origin” has already exceeded this height several times.
Bezos has not yet commented on Branson’s 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. With reference to “Virgin Galactic” he went on to say, “This is something I think you have to deal with.”
Another billionaire wants to venture into space later this year: Jared Isaacman has booked a flight on board a “Crew Dragon” capsule from the company “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. Musk, also a billionaire, has already sent people aboard 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.
