Watch live: VSS Unity launch the billionaire Richard Branson to space
WASHINGTON, BM – Today, July 11, 2021, at 9 a.m., EDT begins the era of private space tourism with the flights of the Virgin Galactic VSS Unity spacecraft and billionaire Richard Branson on board. A crew of six astronauts will take off from New Mexico.
Co-pilot Dave Mackay and his co-pilot Michael Masucci (this is his second space flight) will pilot VSS Unity and launch Richard Branson, Beth Moses, Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor; Colin Bennett, Virgin Galactic lead operations engineer; and Sirisha Bandla, Virgin Galactic researcher.
“Astronaut 001” is the code name of Richard Branson with which he wants to identify himself as the first space tourist in human history, but with the ship VSS Unity. “As the founder of Virgin Galactic, I am extremely proud to have this incredible VSS Unity space crew on my side. I have always been a dreamer. My mother told me never to give up and strive for the stars. This July is our dream. It’s becoming a reality and we’re very excited to share this moment with you. But when we get back to Earth, I’m going to announce something very exciting that will allow many more people to become astronauts. Because space belongs to all of us,” billionaire Richard Branson said in the presentation video of the flight.
The last little over 12 months have proved crucial in the development of the space industry, and are likely to change our minds about space flight. It all started on May 30, 2020, when the private space company of billionaire Elon Musk launched the first private space flight to the International Space Station with two astronauts on board – Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken and the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The success was twofold, as Elon Musk showed that the booster could successfully return to Earth and land, paving the way for reusable carriers.
Today, Richard Branson will try to be the first American civilian to visit outer space. But its success can be challenged by another American billionaire – Jeff Bezos and his space company Blue Origin.
Blue Origin refuses to recognize this space flight attempt because Unity will not cross the Carman line. This is the limit of 100 km above the earth’s surface, beyond which space begins. According to the International Aviation Federation, at such altitudes, the first space speed (7.91 km / s) is already needed to create lift. According to NASA, space starts even higher – at 122 km, because this is the limit at which space shuttles crossed when returning to aerodynamic maneuvering, ie. flight based on the Earth’s atmosphere. In this sense, there will be no space flight for the Bezos team today.
Two billionaires have already been in space, but with a Russian state-owned company, Charles Shimoni of Hungary (2007) and Guy Laliberte of Canada (2009), one of the founders of Cirque du Soleil, spent several days aboard The International Space Station.
Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson set to win space race against Bezos
The 70-year-old British billionaire is blasting off nine days before Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' own flight. But Bezos' company says Branson is simply not flying high enough.
Richard Branson, third from the right, is heading into space with five other team members.
British businessman Richard Branson is looking to go where no billionaire has gone before by blasting off towards the stars on board a Virgin Galactic vessel later on Sunday.
The 70-year-old entrepreneur behind Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Records looks set to beat Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in the ultimate space race between some of the world's richest men.
The 70-year-old Branson is set to fly above the NASA-defined limit for outer space
Bezos plans to travel on July 20 on his own New Shepard ship built by his Blue Origin firm. The Amazon founder is set to pilot the spacecraft himself.
The world's richest man, Jeff Bezos, is set to fly to space nine days after Branson
Tesla CEO Elon Musk also has ambitions to travel to outer space and eventually Mars, although his timetable is less clear. However, Musk's SpaceX project is expected to carry civilians into space as early as September this year.
Space X's Elon Musk has plans to build a city on Mars
What will Branson's flight be like?
Branson, who will be joined by two pilots and three other passengers, is expected to climb to 88 kilometers (55 miles) above Earth during a journey that will last roughly an hour.
In a short video released on Twitter, he said that his goal was "to turn the dream of space travel into a reality - for my grandchildren, for your grandchildren, for everyone."
For his first flight, he will be joined by two pilots, Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci, as well as Beth Moses, Virgin Galactic's chief astronaut instructor, lead operations engineer Colin Bennett, and Sirisha Bandla, a research operations and government affairs vice president.
They will take off from a base in New Mexico later on Sunday.
Elon Musk, the founder Space X and Tesla, suggested in a social media post that he would attend the launch.
"Will see you there to wish you the best," he wrote on Twitter.
Is Branson's plane flying high enough?
There was no well-wishing from the Bezos camp, with Bezos' Blue Origin company pointedly noting that Branson is not even set to cross what most countries see as the border of outer space.
Branson's VSS Unity will climb to over 80 kilometers, which the US air force and NASA considers to be the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space. But the World Air Sports Federation, known by its French acronym FAI, is the world governing body for air sports and defines human spaceflight differently.
The Lausanne-based organization defines outer space 100km above Earth's mean sea level, the so-called Karman Line, 20km higher than Branson is going to travel.
Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith dismissed Virgin Galactic’s approach as "a very different experience" because "they’re not flying above the Kármán line."
How much money is there in space tourism?
That controversy has not dissuaded people from snapping up tickets for the first space tourism flights.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Justin Bieber are among the 600 customers to have stumped up for the $250,000 (€210,000) seats.
Branson founded Virgin Galactic 17 years ago, with it now attempting to finish development testing this year so it can begin flying space tourism passengers in early 2022. He, Musk and Bezos ave invested billions into their respective projects, but this could prove to be a canny investment.
Switzerland's UBS predicts the value of the space tourism market will hit $3 billion (€2.5 billion) annually by 2030.
jf/dj (AP, AFP, dpa)
By: Vaishali Dar |
July 11, 2021
Richard Branson is set to take off for space today, beating fellow billionaire businessmen Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, and ushering in a new era of private commercial space travel
Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson is scheduled to take off with the crew of the test flight of his Virgin Galactic space plane today—two weeks before Jeff Bezos. This would be yet another landmark achievement by Branson, marking a new era of private commercial space travel. Last week, Branson had tweeted: “I’ve always been a dreamer… My mum taught me to never give up and to reach for the stars. On July 11, it’s time to turn that dream into a reality aboard the next Virgin Galactic spaceflight.” He will be “testing the private astronaut experience” alongside four mission specialists and two pilots.
That’s not all. The billionaire also shared a teaser of an additional announcement after his flight. “When we return, I will announce something very exciting to give more people a chance to become astronauts, because space does belong to us all,” he said. “So watch this space.” VSS Unity spacecraft will have onboard Virgin Galactic’s mission specialists, including chief astronaut instructor Beth Moses, lead operations engineer Colin Bennett, vice-president of government affairs at Virgin Galactic Sirisha Bandla, and pilots Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci. The one-of-a-kind experience will be livestreamed on the company’s website, as well as on its Twitter, YouTube and Facebook channels.
Branson’s flight into space is the latest development in the big billionaire space race. Before him, Jeff Bezos, founder of retail giant Amazon, grabbed headlines last month with news of his travel to space on July 20 as part of the first crewed flight by his space company Blue Origin. For more than two decades, both Branson and Bezos have been testing suborbital rockets to take on a 2,300-mile-per-hour ride above earth. Branson, Bezos and even Elon Musk have been leading the new age of commercial spaceflight with technologies that would be economical and safe.
However, if all goes as per plan, Branson would become the real showstopper with an early takeoff. In interviews, though, Branson has stated that he has no intention of competing with anyone. In fact, he has agreed to invite Bezos to watch the event. In a CNN interview, he said that any suggestion that Virgin Galactic may be compromising safety in an effort to get Branson to space before Bezos is “completely wrong”.
Virgin Galactic (a carrier airplane that can reach high altitudes around 90 km to view earth’s curvature) would fly with commercial space transportation operator licence approval granted by the Federal Aviation Administration, the largest transportation agency of the US government, which regulates all aspects of civil aviation, as well as surrounding international waters.
Space travel now doesn’t seem so distant. With qualified space travellers, the digital revolution and sophisticated tech, we will see a new class of explorers in the future. More companies are placing bets on the sector in the coming months—rocket-builder Astra and satellite broadband-focused AST & Science are in talks with companies Rocket Lab, Spire Global, BlackSky, Momentus.
Talking about the opportunities in the space travel market for companies like Virgin Galactic, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Branson told CNBC in an interview last week: “There’s room for 20 space companies to take people up there… The more spaceships we can build, the more we can bring the price down and the more we’ll be able to satisfy demand, and that will happen over the years to come.”
Earlier, Virgin Galactic’s leadership had forecast that “around two million people can experience” space flights that are priced in the $250,000-$500,000 range, as per reports. At the moment, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are competing to take passengers on short flights to the edge of space (suborbital tourism), while Musk’s SpaceX plans to launch private passengers on further, multi-day flights (orbital tourism), as per reports
By Chris Isidore, CNN Business
Updated 10:23 AM ET, Sat July 10, 2021
New York (CNN Business)Richard Branson, the billionaire entrepreneur who is set to take a test flight on his Virgin Galactic spaceship to the edge of outer space on Sunday, has rarely been one to shy away from risky activities, and because of that he's narrowly avoided being killed numerous times in his nearly 71 years.
Some of the near-death experiences were the result of bad luck, such as a stubbed toe in 1980 that nearly sent him down a deep gorge on his private island to the jagged rocks below.
Everything you need to know about Richard Branson going to space this weekend
Some were the result of publicity-seeking promotions, such as bungee jumping off Victoria Falls as part of a television show about him or leaping off the side of a Las Vegas casino to promote flights to the city by one of his airlines. Both stunts left him bloody and injured.
Some were just due to his sense of adventure, such as numerous balloon accidents as he attempted, and sometimes succeeded, to set records for long-distance balloon flights.
Coast Guard helicopters head back to the Barbers Point Naval Station after rescuing multi-millionaire adventurers Richard Branson and Steve Fossett and pilot Per Lindstrand after they were forced to abort their latest round-the-world bid due to bad weather December 25. The giant hot-air balloon, shown deflating in the Pacific Ocean off Hawaii, took off from Morocco December 18, travelled about 8,200 miles (13,120 kms) -- about half the distance of its intended odyssey.
His second autobiography, "Finding My Virginity," includes an appendix entitled "75 Close Shaves," in which he details some of the instances when his life has been at risk. Here are some of the highlights he wrote about on that list, in his own words:
1972: Survived a fishing boat sinking on honeymoon with my first wife, Kristen, off Mexico. We decided to jump off the boat and swim for shore, while the others stayed put -- we were the only survivors.
1976: Flew a microlight aircraft by mistake. It was the first time I'd sat in it, I had no idea how to fly it and accidentally took off. I was pulling wires out desperately. I cut the engine and managed to crash-land into a field. My instructor died in an accident the next day
1980 -- I stubbed my toe while walking around Necker Island and suddenly fell down a gaping gorge. I managed to get my hand to the other side, and Steve Barron managed to rescue me, pulling me up before I fell to what would have been certain death on the jagged rocks below.
1985 -- Sank in the [high-altitude hot-air balloon capsule] Virgin Atlantic Challenger 1 as we were crossing the Atlantic, had to be pulled out of the ocean.
1986 -- Crashed a car while driving through the Alps with my family. I hit some ice and went down a small cliff and turned the car over.
1986 -- On my first solo hot-air balloon flight, I crashed badly, smashing into the ground. It was a sign of things to come.
1986 -- On my first time skydiving, there was one cord that opened the parachute and one that got rid of it. I pulled the wrong cord by mistake. I was falling through the air before an instructor managed to yank my spare ripcord.
1987 -- On our attempt to cross the Atlantic in a hot-air balloon, the balloon's solar heating was too good and we headed up, up and up with seemingly no way to stop it. My co-pilot Per managed to bring the balloon down just before the capsule imploded and we tumbled to our deaths.
Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand attend a press conference to announce their 'Trans Atlantic Balloon Challenge' attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean in the 'Virgin Atlantic Flyer' hot air balloon on May 12, 1987 in New York City.
1987 -- On the same challenge I lost my co-pilot when Per jumped into the Atlantic, leaving me alone in the hot-air balloon as it disappeared back above the clouds. I was convinced I was going to die. On that memorable flight...I managed to crash the balloon into the North Sea and was rescued by helicopter.
1989 -- I decided to make an entrance to my wedding with Joan, dangling from a helicopter in an all-white suit. I dropped into the shallow end of the pool by mistake, smashed my legs, and spent the whole wedding hobbling.
Virgin chairman Richard Branson arrives for his wedding to partner of 14 years, Joan Templeman, on the Caribbean island of Necker
1991 -- In a hot air balloon saw it catch fire at 30,000 feet. We managed to extinguish the fire before the balloon was destroyed. On the same balloon flight, we lost half our fuel when full tanks dropped as we jettisoned empty fuel. We thought we would run out of fuel halfway across the Pacific, before strong winds in the jet stream saved us. We crashed in the Artic -- successfully completing the challenge, but crashing in minus-50-degree temperatures 3,000 miles from our planned destination in Los Angeles.
Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand in the balloon capsule before launch in Japan, 1991
2001 -- Narrowly missed stepping on a live track with 25,000 volts charged above, while inspecting our new tilting trains in England.
2004 -- Agreed to do a bungee jump off Victoria Falls as part of my TV show "The Rebel Billionaire." As I fell through the air I clipped my head on something and came back up with blood streaming down my face.
2007 -- Jumped off Palms Casino in Las Vegas as we announced Virgin America's new route to the city. After initially refusing to do the jump, I reconsidered and plunged down the building at high speed in strong winds. I smashed painfully hard into the buildings. Fortunately I hadn't spun around, so my backside hit the wall rather than my head. It completely ripped the back of my trousers off, cut my legs and arm open and badly bruised my hand.
Founder of the Virgin Group Richard Branson stunts off The Palms Fantasy Tower at The Palms Casino Resort on October 10, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
2016 -- My life flashed before my eyes as I went over the handlebars while cycling on Virgin Gorda. My bike disappeared over the cliff, I escaped with a cracked cheek, severe cuts and bruises and a torn shoulder.
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