Status: 07/11/2021 5:24 p.m.
It’s a test flight and a successful PR coup at the same time: The British entrepreneur Branson set off for space in his spaceship – just nine days before his competitor Bezos took off.
The British billionaire Richard Branson has set off into space with his spaceship. The 70-year-old set off from an airport in the US state of New Mexico with two astronauts and three astronauts in the “VSS Unity” in tow of a mother aircraft.
The spaceship is to be set down at a height of around 15 kilometers, then accelerate to a speed of more than 3700 kilometers per hour and then dive into weightlessness at an altitude of over 80 kilometers.
“I feel good, excited, ready”
Branson, like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla boss Elon Musk, are pursuing the goal of entering the space tourism business. Branson’s All-Trip is a successful PR coup against one of his competitors: Bezos, the richest man in the world, had already advertised his flight into space planned for July 20 at great expense – then entrepreneur Branson came and announced that he would I’ll fly nine days early.
Branson posed with Musk on a Twitter photo that morning and wrote: “We have a great day ahead of us. Great to start the morning with a friend. I feel good, excited, ready.”