On Sunday, Billionaire Richard Brandon will take off from a base in New Mexico aboard a Virgin Galactic vessel bound for the edge of space.
The Brandon is hoping to finally get the nascent Space Tourism industry off the ground – but also go one up on Jeff Bezos by winning the race to be the first person to cross the final frontier in a ship built by their own company.
The Amazon founder's great rival, SpaceX boss Elon Musk, announced on Twitter that he would be there to witness it.
“Will be there to wish you the best”, he wrote to Branson.
Several tourists journeyed to the International Space Station in the 2000s, but onboard Russian rockets.
Branson's official role is to evaluate the private astronaut experience to enhance the journey for future clients.
The spaceflight should take place shortly after 7:00 am Mountain time(1300 GMT), with a live stream provided by Virgin Galactic on its website.
Branson, who founded the Virgin Group in 2004, which today has interests in everything from commercial aviation to fitness centers, is known for his lust for adventure and has set world records in hot air ballooning and boating.
“As a child , I wanted to go to space. When that did not look likely for my generation, I registered the name Virgin Galactic with the notion of creating a company that could make it happen”.
The Spaceship Company was founded by Richard Branson through Virgin Group and Burt Rutan through Scaled Composites, to build commercial spaceships and launch aircraft for space travel.
Source: https://www.space.com/virgin-galactic-unity-2-richard-branson-launch-delay
