The Branson company announced Thursday night that its next test flight would take place on July 11, and its author will be among the six people on board. Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic has one goal to beat billionaire Jeff Bezos in space for nine days.
The Branson company announced late Thursday that its next test flight would take place on July 11, and its founder would be among the six people on board. The cruise missile will take off from New Mexico – a first with a whole crew of company employees. This will be Virgin Galactic’s fourth spacewalk.
The news comes just hours after Bezos’ Blue Origin said that Bezos would be escorted into space on July 20 by a space pioneer who had waited 60 years for launch. 11 Landed on the moon. He set off for a flight a month ago, the final chapter of an extended space race between two rich rockets.
The Amazon founder will be with the people on board for Blue Origin’s debut, accompanied by his brother, winner of a $28 million charity auction, and Wally Funk, one of the last surviving Mercury 13 members, who is his “Guest of Honor.”
On Wednesday morning, Branson declined to say when he would go into space due to restrictions imposed by his public company. But he insisted that it would be “sane and healthy” to fly once the engineers tried it.
“I have always been a dreamer. On July 11, it’s time to make this dream come true for the next @VirginGalactic,” she said via Twitter. Virgin Galactic launched its rocket from an airplane and reached an altitude of about 55 miles. Blue Origin launched the New Shepard rocket from the ground, the capsule rising to 106 kilometers. The two heights are considered the edges of the room. In comparison, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched its tablet – both crew and cargo – into orbit around the earth.