Sir Richard Branson has reached space on the Virgin Galactic rocket ship, beating fellow billionaire and rival Jeff Bezos. The Virgin Galactic spacecraft carrying British billionaire Richard Branson, two pilots, and three other passengers have reached space. The passengers could unbuckle and experience a few minutes of weightlessness while admiring the curvature of the Earth from the ship’s 17 windows. The boundary of space is defined as above 80 kilometers in altitude, according to the United States.
After a voyage, the spaceship touched down, and Sir Branson called it the “experience of a lifetime.”
“Congratulations to all our wonderful team at Virgin Galactic for 17 years of hard work to get us this far,” he said during a live feed as the VSS Unity spaceship glided back to Spaceport America in New Mexico.
Sir Branson said he was “thrilled” to reveal a Virgin Galactic partnership to “open space for everyone”.
The billionaire has teamed up with Omaze, which supports Space For Humanity.
He said: “Every charitable donation goes to support Space For Humanity, and you’ll be entered into the Omaze sweepstake to win two seats aboard one of the first commercial Virgin Galactic spaceflights and a guided tour of Spaceport America given by yours indeed. Imagine a world where people of all ages and backgrounds, from anywhere, of any gender, of any ethnicity, have equal access to space. They will, in turn, inspire us all back here on Earth. If you’ve ever had a dream, it is time to make it come true.”
To the next generation of dreamers’
Mr. Branson urged the “next generation of dreamers to “imagine what they can do” during his historic space flight. While in his Virgin Galactic ship, the billionaire said: “I was once a child with a dream looking up to the stars. “Now I’m an adult in a spaceship looking down to our beautiful Earth. “To the next generation of dreamers: if we can do this, just imagine what you can do.
Elon Musk congratulates Branson.
Elon Musk congratulated his space rival Richard Branson on winning the billionaire race to area. He tweeted in response to a video of the historic mission: “Congratulations, beautiful flight!”
Jeff Bezos reacts to the mission.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also congratulated Richard Branson on his historic space flight and has said he “can’t wait to join the club”. On the anniversary of the Moon landing, Mr. Bezos is set to blast into space in nine days. He had hoped to be the first billionaire to make it to the edge of the area but seemed excited at the prospect of being second. Mr. Bezos said: “Congratulations on the flight. Can’t wait to join the club!”
