Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson made history on Sunday, becoming the first billionaire to fly to space on a private crewed mission.
Three Virgin Galactic employees and two pilots joined Branson for his company’s first full-crewed spaceflight, the Unity 22 Mission. The winged mothership, called the VMS Eve, took off from the Spaceport America runway in New Mexico and climbed to approximately 50,000 feet before the second phase when the VSS Unity spaceship released and climbed nearly 300,000 feet above Earth at speeds slightly over Mach 3.
The flight was greatly anticipated as a fellow billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is expected to make his trip to the outer reaches alongside five passengers on July 20 via his private space company Blue Origin.
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The vessel took off at 10:30 a.m. EDT after it was delayed from its initial 9 a.m. time due to overnight weather. The flight was expected to last 90 minutes, during which passengers would experience a few minutes of weightlessness at the apex of the trip, which is around 55 miles above the desert. Branson and his crew landed back down at the same location of takeoff.
“Welcome to the dawn of a new space age,” Branson wrote in a tweet following his return from the spaceflight, noting his trip “was more magical than I ever imagined.”
“I think, like most kids, I have dreamt of this moment since I was a kid, and honestly, nothing can prepare you for the view of Earth from space,” Branson said following his return. He added it was his honor to test the “customer experience” of Virgin Galactic’s future plans to send more travelers to space.
Branson’s successful flight means he beat Bezos to the punch on becoming the first billionaire in space by just nine days, although the Virgin Galactic founder has underscored his notable feat is not about competition.
“I know nobody will believe me when I say it, but honestly, there isn’t [competition],” Branson said on NBC’s Today show on Tuesday. Branson, 70, has said it has been his dream to fly to space since the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing.
Bezos wished Branson’s team “a successful and safe flight” on Saturday before the trip in a post on Instagram.
Sunday’s takeoff marks Virgin Galactic’s fourth crewed trip to space as the company continues its tests to provide more members of the public the chance to make private trips to space.
Mission specialists who accompanied Branson included Beth Moses, Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor, Colin Bennett, Virgin Galactic lead operations engineer, and Sirisha Bandla, the vice president of government affairs and research operations at the company.
VSS Unity, which led the ascent to zero-gravity, was piloted by Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci.
C.J. Sturckow and Kelly Latimer piloted the ship named after Branson’s mother, the VMS Eve, which returned back to the ground after releasing the VSS Unity from its lock.
Branson met with Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk prior to Sunday’s takeoff, saying, “Great to start the morning with a friend.” Despite Musk’s vast influence in the private spaceflight industry, he has never soared past the outer reaches of Earth’s atmosphere on one of his own company’s rockets.
The company completed its third semi-crewed test flight on May 22. Nearly one month later, the Federal Aviation Administration gave the green light to allow the launch of commercial travelers to space.
Branson, who has a net worth of $5.5 billion, founded the Virgin Group in 1970, which owns the private space travel company Virgin Galactic, established in 2004.
So far, an estimated 750 have opted to sign up for future flights with Branson’s private company, and some applicants have paid up to $250,000 per ticket for the opportunity to experience space travel.
