Alex Wong/Getty Images; Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
Virgin Galactic s Richard Branson may try to beat Jeff Bezos to space next month, an industry blog suggests.
Virgin Galactic did not deny the claim when asked by Insider, saying that Branson is expected to fly in the summer.
An outside expert says the rumored July 4 weekend launch date is very doable.
The billionaire space race appears to be in full swing, and it s getting close. Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson may both have the edge of space in their sights next month.
Bezos announced on Monday that he plans to fly into space aboard the New Shepard rocket developed by Blue Origin, the aerospace company he founded in 2000. The launch is set for July 20.
An uncontrolled Chinese rocket reentered Earth s atmosphere and landed in the Indian Ocean Saturday.
The rocket had been hurtling towards Earth for a week, with no one knowing when or where it would land.
The landing quelled fears that debris from the rocket might have fallen on people or property.
A Chinese rocket falling toward Earth at around 18,000 miles an hour reentered the atmosphere late Saturday, landing in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives, China s space agency reported, according to the South China Morning Post.
It was the 22.5-ton core stage of China s Long March 5B rocket, which launched the first module of the country s new space station on April 28. For the last week, the 10-story-tall cylinder was hurtling around Earth uncontrolled, losing altitude with each lap. No space agency was certain when it would fall or where it would land.
Pieces of a runaway Chinese rocket have rained down on the Indian Ocean
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WENCHANG, CHINA - APRIL 29: A Long March-5B Y2 rocket carrying the core module of Chinas space station, Tianhe, blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on April 29, 2021 in Wenchang, Hainan Province of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
An uncontrolled Chinese rocket reentered Earth s atmosphere and landed in the Indian Ocean Saturday.
The rocket had been hurtling towards Earth for a week, with no one knowing when or where it would land.
The landing quelled fears that debris from the rocket might have fallen on people or property.