Richard Branson prepares to take his daredevil act to space with Virgin Galactic ... and beat Jeff Bezos

Branson is poised for a rollicking ride to the edge of space on July 11, and then the company would reopen space tourism ticket sales.

When he crossed the Pacific Ocean in a hot-air balloon in 1991, Richard Branson ended up so far off course that instead of touching down in Southern California, he crash landed on a frozen lake in Canada.

His balloon ride across the Atlantic four years earlier had been just as perilous, forcing Branson to bail out by jumping into the sea after writing a farewell note to his family in case he didn’t survive.

Over the years, the brash British billionaire has embarked on all sorts of wild adventures, from the dangerously ill-conceived to the merely zany — from attempting a powerboat speed record across the English Channel in seas so choppy it “was like being strapped to the blade of a vast pneumatic drill,” as he wrote in his memoir; to dressing up as a bride to launch his ultimately unsuccessful foray into the wedding gown industry.

Now, the one-man publicity circus,as he has been called, is preparing for what would be the biggest stunt of all: A rollicking ride to the edge of space in the spaceplane developed by Virgin Galactic, the venture he founded in 2004 that he vowed would become the world’s first “commercial spaceline.”

Virgin Galactic announced this week that Stephen Colbert would host the live-stream broadcast of the event, now scheduled for Sunday, though weather and last-minute technical problems could force a delay. And the company also intends to use Branson’s flight as a catalyst to reopen ticket sales for its space tourism business. It had previously cost $250,000 for the flight, which would allow passengers to experience a few minutes of weightlessness. But when the tickets go back on sale, the price is expected to jump to about $500,000, according to analysts.

Like Branson’s previous exploits, the flight from Virgin Galactic’s Spaceport America in New Mexico will be as much theater as adventure, designed to sell tickets as well as to celebrate the commercialization of human space exploration. But that is to be expected from the man who made his start by signing the Sex Pistols to his record label and who’s lived by the motto, “screw it, let’s do it.”

Last week, Branson — who’ll turn 71 July 18 — ensured his spaceflight attempt would get even more publicity when he announced that he would accelerate the test flight schedule Virgin Galactic had previously announced so that he could fly earlier.

The company had planned to fly a test flight with four crew members in the cabin, and then fly Branson. But after Jeff Bezos announced he would fly on his company’s spacecraft to the edge of space on July 20, Branson jumped the line and said he would board Virgin Galactic’s next space flight and — conditions permitting — beat Bezos by nine days.

Read the rest here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/07/09/richard-branson-virgin-galactic-space-dare-devil/

Good for him.

na wa o

somito121:
Good for him.

If he survives, yes. Virgin Galactic’s method of pioneering Space Tourism seems to me riskier than Geoff Bozos Blue Origin.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSNmS5y3-T8
Virgin Galactic


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUcQmETFmds
Blue Origin.

Make him buy us space bread

donbachi:
Make him buy us space bread

Are you implying he should send you bread? As in East Africans waiting for the West to feed or do for them that which they should be doing for themselves i.e. Africans as children begging or that nothing matters but Nigeria’s unnecessary backward politicking?

Richard Branson lost a very close friend, billionaire Steve Fosset who died in the crash of the experimental aircraft he was piloting over a remote part of the Nevada Desert. One can only hope that history is not about to repeat itself.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Fossett

Litmus:
Richard Branson prepares to take his daredevil act to space with Virgin Galactic ... and beat Jeff Bezos

Branson is poised for a rollicking ride to the edge of space on July 11, and then the company would reopen space tourism ticket sales.

When he crossed the Pacific Ocean in a hot-air balloon in 1991, Richard Branson ended up so far off course that instead of touching down in Southern California, he crash landed on a frozen lake in Canada.

His balloon ride across the Atlantic four years earlier had been just as perilous, forcing Branson to bail out by jumping into the sea after writing a farewell note to his family in case he didn’t survive.

Over the years, the brash British billionaire has embarked on all sorts of wild adventures, from the dangerously ill-conceived to the merely zany — from attempting a powerboat speed record across the English Channel in seas so choppy it “was like being strapped to the blade of a vast pneumatic drill,” as he wrote in his memoir; to dressing up as a bride to launch his ultimately unsuccessful foray into the wedding gown industry.

Now, the one-man publicity circus,as he has been called, is preparing for what would be the biggest stunt of all: A rollicking ride to the edge of space in the spaceplane developed by Virgin Galactic, the venture he founded in 2004 that he vowed would become the world’s first “commercial spaceline.”

Virgin Galactic announced this week that Stephen Colbert would host the live-stream broadcast of the event, now scheduled for Sunday, though weather and last-minute technical problems could force a delay. And the company also intends to use Branson’s flight as a catalyst to reopen ticket sales for its space tourism business. It had previously cost $250,000 for the flight, which would allow passengers to experience a few minutes of weightlessness. But when the tickets go back on sale, the price is expected to jump to about $500,000, according to analysts.

Like Branson’s previous exploits, the flight from Virgin Galactic’s Spaceport America in New Mexico will be as much theater as adventure, designed to sell tickets as well as to celebrate the commercialization of human space exploration. But that is to be expected from the man who made his start by signing the Sex Pistols to his record label and who’s lived by the motto, “screw it, let’s do it.”

Last week, Branson — who’ll turn 71 July 18 — ensured his spaceflight attempt would get even more publicity when he announced that he would accelerate the test flight schedule Virgin Galactic had previously announced so that he could fly earlier.

The company had planned to fly a test flight with four crew members in the cabin, and then fly Branson. But after Jeff Bezos announced he would fly on his company’s spacecraft to the edge of space on July 20, Branson jumped the line and said he would board Virgin Galactic’s next space flight and — conditions permitting — beat Bezos by nine days.

Read the rest here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/07/09/richard-branson-virgin-galactic-space-dare-devil/

Nasa's involvement in space exploration is an aberration. Traditionally it is has been the private sector, with far less resources, that successfully pushed the boundaries. Adjusted for inflation, Nasa has spent over £1 trillion for man to take a few steps on the moon? For space stations that have solved what problem? Cancer? Dementia?