It was recently announced that Jeff Bezos plans to fly into outer space with his brother aboard his own Blue Origin space rocket. Tesla founder Elon Musk has also declared that he plans to enter space aboard one of his SpaceX vehicles. However, they may not be the first billionaire to make it to the outer reaches. British billionaire, and founder of Virgin, Richard Branson, has now said that he plans to go into space within the next few weeks.
Branson made the statement in a tweet congratulating Bezos, in which he said:
"Many congratulations to @JeffBezos & his brother Mark on announcing spaceflight plans. Jeff started building @blueorigin in 2000, we started building @virgingalactic in 2004 & now both are opening up access to Space - how extraordinary! Watch this space…"
Many congratulations to @JeffBezos & his brother Mark on announcing spaceflight plans. Jeff started building @blueorigin in 2000, we started building @virgingalactic in 2004 & now both are opening up access to Space - how extraordinary! Watch this space…
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) June 7, 2021
Branson owns his own space company known as Virgin Galactic.
While nothing has been declared officially as of yet, Branson is expected to fly in a rocket known as VSS Unity. The rocket has been used recently and was reached an altitude of over 55 miles. It is designed to carry a crew of 6 and can be in orbit for around 2 hours.
Bezos' plans involve sending six crew members into space for just 10 minutes about 60 miles above Earth's surface. While Bezos and his brother are confirmed passengers, a third seat has been auctioned to the highest bidder. As it stands, the bid sits at just under $3 million.
While Musk says he wants to enter space, there has been no definitive plan or time schedule laid out as to how he plans to do this.
Branson became famous as the founder of the Virgin, which first specialised in music and then moved onto banking and transport. He became world-famous in the 1990s for attempting huge stunts and daring deeds, including flying around the world solo in an air balloon. These air attempts failed.
Time will tell which billionaire makes it into space first.
[h/t: Inverse]
COMMENTS