Richard Branson and His Successful Space Flight on Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson finally fulfilled his lifetime ambition of rocketing into space. On Sunday, the British billionaire blasted away and returned to earth aboard Virgin Galactic’s rocket-powered spacecraft. The first fully-crewed space test flight aligns with Branson’s goal to make space travel “more accessible to all.”

Richard Branson: His Journey to Space

After landing, Branson said that the journey was a dream he had since he was a kid. It was indeed a long road for him to achieve this feat. In 2004, he first made public his intention to create a spaceplane. This, with the expectation that commercial service will be available come 2007.

Unfortunately, a fatal crash in 2014 and other technical difficulties took the project 17 years in development before fully taking flight. Branson considers this the most challenging endeavor of his career. 

And on Sunday morning, Richard Branson, along with two pilots and three mission specialists, made the dream a reality. The VSS Unity made him the first billionaire to reach the edge of space aboard a rocket he helped fund. 

Batting for Space Tourism

The flight is touted as Branson’s efforts to mark his niche in the space tourism industry. It has given Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. the credence to safely get people to and from space on its commercial services. They are now planning the initiation of commercial space flights in early 2022.

The test flight aimed to evaluate passenger experience and validation of systems and safety. The company is hoping to instill confidence in its space travels. It expects to fulfill more dreams of getting into outer space, of course, for the right amount of dollars.

According to the Wall Street Journal, space tourism is expected to generate as much as $4 billion in revenues annually by the year 2030. This seems promising as Virgin Galactic had already reported about 600 reservations for future space flights after a $273 million loss last year. 

Ticket prices are still in speculation as the company hasn’t disclosed it. A Virgin Galactic spokesman mentioned that Musk is a ticket holder. This is enough to assume that the prices will be out of reach for most people as of now.

The Space Flight with Richard Branson

The VSS Unity carrying the billionaire entrepreneur landed in Spaceport America in New Mexico on Sunday. It was launched using a carrier plane called VMS Eve to an altitude of 50,000 feet or 15 kilometers. A rocket motor at the back ignited and blasted it, giving Branson and his crew a breath-taking sight of the planet below.

VSS unity then made a slow backflip through the micro-g environment rendering the passengers weightless and floating around the cabin of the spacecraft. They then reached an altitude of 86.1 kilometers or 53.5 miles (about 282,000 feet). The spacecraft then returned, gliding through the atmosphere to land back where it started.

Spaceflight Goals

The test spaceflight is the first to carry more than one passenger among the four of Virgin Galactic’s. It is its second this year as two more are planned for this year. A future third flight could complete the company’s development.

Virgin Galactic have joined forces with other companies in its efforts to transport passengers to space. Elon Musk’s SpaceX or Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has expressed its plans to get around four people into orbit this year.

On the other hand, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is investing in his own space outfit, Blue Origin. On July 20, he will rocket into space in a capsule from West Texas. Both Musk and Bezos extended their congratulations to Richard Branson on social media.