Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson intends to travel to the edge of space on Sunday. The billionaire will take a trip in the company's spacecraft.
Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Galactic, poses for photographs before ringing a ceremonial bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to promote the first day of trading of Virgin Galactic Holdings shares
First Fully Crewed Space Flight
In a recently published article in The Wall Street Journal, Branson's space-tourism business, Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc., and his satellite-launch company, Virgin Orbit, have been bright spots. According to individuals who know the plan, this has been his primary focus for many years.
Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com Inc., is expected to be part of the first crew transported by his own space-tourism firm, Blue Origin LLC, nine days after the launch of Branson, assuming no weather or technical problems.
The competing launches underscore the potential for billionaires to compete in the future years to transport fee-paying passengers to the edge of space. SpaceX, the rocket firm headed by Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk, wants to take paying passengers even higher this year, according to Los Angeles Times.
Read Also: Virgin Galactic's Third Test Flight Reaches Edge of Space, Declared a Success
Branson's Space Flight Aims to Evaluate Experience Before Flying Customers
The flight on Sunday will be the vehicle's first with a complete crew. Four Virgin Galactic workers, including Branson, who established the business in 2004, will stand in as passengers. Beth Moses, the company's chief astronaut instructor; Colin Bennett, the company's lead operations engineer; and Sirisha Bandla, the company's vice president of government relations and research operations, are among the passengers, according to a published report in Yahoo News.
In a recently published article in TODAY, they are all geared at assessing the passenger experience, as Virgin Galactic plans to begin flying passengers above the Earth next year. Tom Hanks, Justin Bieber, and Lady Gaga are among the 700 individuals who have reserved tickets.
At about 9 a.m. ET on Sunday, Branson and his crew will take off from the company's facilities at Spaceport America in New Mexico. Even though Branson's announcement was revealed weeks after Bezos', the Virgin Galactic founder has said that this is not a competition.
Differences Between the Space Plane of Branson and Bezos
There are a few significant distinctions. Richard Branson will go in a space aircraft rather than a rocket-launched capsule, and others believe he may not even reach space. Unlike Bezos, who will go to the edge of the atmosphere in a winged, piloted vehicle, Branson will travel to the edge of the atmosphere in a winged, piloted vehicle.
VSS Unity is the name of the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft he will be flying, and it needs two pilots and may carry up to six passengers. On Sunday morning, they will board the space aircraft, which is connected to the bottom of the mothership called VMS Eve, named after Branson's mother.
The pilots will stop the engines and let the VSS Unity float after it reaches approximately 55 miles above sea level. The passengers will feel weightless for approximately five minutes. They will be able to view the Earth bending below them via the space plane's 17 windows.
VSS Unity has flown successfully since Virgin Galactic started testing it in 2016. Since December 2018 and pilots have flown the VSS Unity three times to the edge of space and returned. Moses was a passenger on one of the planes.
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