Exciting news has hit tabloids as Sir Richard Branson has named the date he’ll fly to the edge of space. According to an article posted on BBC news on 2nd July 2021, Sir Branson has announced that he will fly on 11 July, or very soon after.
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He shall be a passenger aboard the Unity rocket plane, which has been developed by his Virgin Galactic company over a period of almost two decades. The vehicle can climb an altitude of 90km (295,000ft), allowing passengers to feel a few minutes of weightlessness and a spectacular view of the curvature of the Earth. Virgin Galactic company was granted a commercial spaceflight license by the Federal Aviation Administration just last week.
Sir Richard wants to introduce commercial spaceflight service stating that “I truly believe that space belongs to all of us. After 17 years of research, engineering and innovation, the new commercial space industry is poised to open the Universe to humankind and change the world for good. It’s one thing to have a dream of making space more accessible to all; it’s another for an incredible team to collectively turn that dream into reality.” Sir Richard has already garnered interest of over 500 individuals who have lodged deposits to take the ride. The full ticket price, may go up to a whopping $250,000 (£180,000) per passenger.
Sir Richard’s rival in sub-orbital space tourism, fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos and has announced his own trip to the edge of space on 20 July. It was stated by the BBC that Benzo has invited three individuals to accompany him on his New Shepard booster and capsule system. One being his brother Mark, second a mystery person who paid $28m (£20m) at auction for a seat and finally the famed female aviator Wally Funk.
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Sir Richard cleverly moved up his first flight up to beat Mr. Benzo to reach there first. It was originally scheduled for the Unity flight to take four Virgin Galactic employees to ride as passengers in order to test the cabin experience for future tourists. But Sir Richardson released an earlier date and included himself in this ride when the date was announced by fellow Mr. Benzo. Amongst the six occupants of this trip with Sir Richardson will be, Beth Moses, Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor; Colin Bennett, lead operations engineer; and Sirisha Bandla, vice president of government affairs. The two pilots up front will be Dave Mackay and Michael “Sooch” Masucci.
Though a date has been released by Sir Richard, a number of events ranging from unfavorable weather conditions to perhaps a technical issue could create a delay in the flight.
The interest in space tourism has picked up after almost a decade’s halt. New initiatives are bound for higher aims than the sub-orbital flights of Sir Richard and Jeff Bezos.