Richard Branson planning trip to room in advance of rival Jeff Bezos

Branson’s company Virgin Galactic stated in a statement that he would be a “mission specialist” aboard the SpaceShipTwo Unity, which will go to place as early as July 11, “pending temperature and complex checks.”

If the schedule retains, Branson would make it to the cosmos prior to Bezos, who said he would journey to area aboard the New Shepard start auto belonging to his company Blue Origin on July 20.

The two billionaires have founded rival providers to get travelers on shorter flights to suborbital place.

Branson “will appraise the personal astronaut practical experience and will endure the exact training, planning and flight as Virgin Galactic’s future astronauts.

“The Organization will use his observations from his flight training and spaceflight expertise to improve the journey for all upcoming astronaut prospects,” Virgin Galactic stated.

The company ideas to livestream the flight.

Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft is not a typical rocket, but instead a provider plane that reaches a higher altitude and releases a more compact spacecraft, the VSS Unity, that fires its engines and reaches suborbital space, then glides again to earth.

“I genuinely think that house belongs to all of us,” Branson claimed.

“Right after extra than 16 a long time of exploration, engineering, and tests, Virgin Galactic stands at the vanguard of a new professional room industry, which is set to open room to humankind.”

Immediately after this flight, two much more tests are envisioned before the commence of normal business flights in 2022, in accordance to Virgin Galactic.