Richard Branson Becomes First Billionaire to Fly in Space
Richard Branson was hailed as the first billionaire to fly in space, beating his competitor Jeff Bezos, who also plans to take a trip in the vast skies. Branson flew into outer space aboard the Virgin Galactic rocket on Sunday, New York Post reported.
CNBC reported that Branson was joined with five others, namely Chief Astronaut Trainer Beth Moses, Vice President of government affairs Sirisha Bandla, and Lead Operation Engineer Colin Bennett. Unity was operated by Pilots Michael Masucci and Dave Mackay.
The team departed at around 8:30 in the morning in New Mexico, about 180 miles of Albuquerque.
Richard Branson Experiences Weightlessness in Space with Virgin Galactic Spacecraft
Speaking from the spacecraft's cabin, Branson labeled the spaceflight as a "complete experience of a lifetime." Branson also congratulated all those who created the spacecraft and acknowledged the "hard work" that made them reach the historic event.
"Now looking down at the spaceport, congratulations to everybody for creating such a beautiful plane and all the hard work for getting us this far," Branson said.
Branson and the team took a trip more than 50 miles above the Earth where they experienced weightlessness. The billionaire joined the historic spaceflight to test the customer experience for future space tourists.
"Initially, I thought testing the customer experience was a little bit of an excuse to get me on it. It wasn't... It's so great to get out there [space] and test the customer experience," Branson noted.
Less than an hour after the take-off, the VMS Eve plane released its rocket at an altitude of 53 miles per hour, which was further the 50-mile boundary considered by the United States to be the boundary of Space. The crew was then allowed to unstrap and experience a few minutes of weightlessness.
"Like most kids, I have dreamt of this moment since I was a kid, and honestly, nothing could prepare you for the view from space," Branson said after they landed.
The vehicle then returned through the atmosphere in a glide, to land back at the runway of the spaceport at around 9:40 in the morning.
The recent spaceflight where Branson was included was the first mission of Virgin Galactic where all six seats were fully occupied. To date, the company has about 600 reservations of tickets on future flights.
Jeff Bezos Wishes Richard Branson Good Luck on His Space Flight
Ahead of Richard Branson's trip into space, Amazon and Blue Origin Founder Jeff Bezos wished the Virgin Galactic owner good luck. Bezos took to Instagram as he posted a snap of Branson.
"Wishing you and the whole team a successful and safe flight tomorrow. Best of luck," Bezos captioned in his post. It can be remembered that both the billionaires were caught in a space race, as Branson announced his schedule of flying into space, nine days before Bezos.
However, New York Post reported that Richard Branson has denied that he was trying to beat Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin.
This article is owned by Latin Post
Written By: Joshua Summers
WATCH: Richard Branson makes Historic Spaceflight - From ABC News
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