Billionaire blast off: Richard Branson plans space trip ahead of rival Bezos
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02/07/2021 - 04:59 Richard Branson at the New York Stock Exchange in October 2019 Drew Angerer GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File 4 min
Washington (AFP)
Call it a space race for billionaires: British mogul Richard Branson one-upped rival Jeff Bezos on Thursday, announcing that he too will blast beyond Earth s atmosphere as many as nine days ahead of the Amazon founder.
With both tycoons having created space tourism companies and positioned themselves as leaders in the suborbital-flights-for-the-wealthy sector, the move signaled clear if not fierce competition.
The announcement follows Bezo s proclamation in early June that he and his brother would be part of the crew on the first manned flight aboard his company Blue Origin s New Shepard launch vehicle.
Si ce calendrier est respecté, il battrait ainsi de peu le fondateur d Amazon Jeff Bezos, qui a lui annoncé qu il irait dans l espace le 20 juillet, à bord d une fusée de sa propre société, Blue Origin.
La compétition fait rage entre les deux hommes, qui ont tous les deux créé des entreprises positionnées sur le secteur du tourisme spatial, avec des vols suborbitaux courts. La fenêtre pour le prochain vol test du (vaisseau) SpaceShipTwo Unity s ouvre le 11 juillet, sous condition de la météo et de vérifications techniques , a précisé Virgin Galactic dans un communiqué.
Virgin Galactic
Sir Richard Branson might get to visit outer space before Jeff Bezos does. Virgin Galactic has announced that it s opening the flight window for SpaceShipTwo Unity s next rocket-powered test flight on July 11th, over a week before Blue Origin s first tourist flight is scheduled to launch on July 20th with Bezos onboard. The Unity 22 mission will be the company s fourth crewed flight, but it will be the first to carry a full crew with two pilots and four mission specialists in the cabin. One of those passengers is company founder Richard Branson, who ll be assessing the private astronaut experience Virgin Galactic plans to offer paying customers.
Friday, 02 Jul 2021 08:17 AM MYT
Branson will be a mission specialist aboard the SpaceShipTwo Unity. ― AFP pic
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WASHINGTON, July 2 British billionaire Richard Branson one-upped his rival Jeff Bezos on Thursday, announcing that he too will travel to space as many as nine days ahead of the Amazon founder.
Branson’s company Virgin Galactic said in a statement that he would be a “mission specialist” aboard the SpaceShipTwo Unity, which will go to space as early as July 11, “pending weather and technical checks.”
If the schedule holds, Branson would make it to the cosmos before Bezos, who said he would travel to space aboard the New Shepard launch vehicle belonging to his company Blue Origin on July 20.