950 Big leap forward: The first fully-crewed flight of Virgin Galactic has shown that the new space race is about science, technology and business. AP Dinesh C Sharma Science Commentator THIS month is witnessing some unusual activity, with billionaires becoming astronauts. The space flight of Richard Branson earlier this week is to be followed by a similar space mission led by Jeff Bezos. The third one by Elon Musk is not far away. More than half a century ago, the space race between America and the Soviet Union reached its zenith with the first human landing on the lunar surface. It was the Cold War era and the exploration of space was in its formative years. In the past two decades, China emerged as a serious contender in the space sector with its human missions and programme to build a space station. This, together with India’s successful missions to the moon and Mars, led to an Asian space race. Several other countries in Asia have developed national space programmes. Now, the world is witnessing a new space race in which the contenders are billionaire-entrepreneurs and not nation-states. This race can potentially change the contours of space business in future.