Entrepreneur Richard Branson is making history today. He made his first test flight into space on his Virgin Galactic aircraft. Branson and his fellow passengers flew to the edge of the atmosphere and suffered from weightlessness for four minutes. Then they returned to Earth. In general, the flight took about an hour.
Branson, who has been advocating space tourism for 17 years, made his first spaceflight. A special transport plane lifted the VVS Unity spaceship to an altitude of 15 kilometers. There the rocket engine of the spaceship was launched, after which the unit took off with its own power to more than 80 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.
Alone
A special plane was used to reach an altitude of 80 kilometers. That plane took off from Spaceport America, the Virgin space base near the village of Truth or Consequences in the US state of New Mexico. The VSS Unity spaceship hangs below the plane.
The crew of Flight 22 were pilots Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci and four passengers. In addition to Branson, there are three of his closest colleagues. Virgin Galactic calls it one of its last test flights. If Branson agrees to the trial, first paying customers can head to space next year.
The trip was not without danger. In 2014, a Virgin Galactic test plane crashed. The co-pilot, who was killed, switched the wrong link during takeoff.
‘space race’
Branson defeats other “alien billionaires” in the race to space. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the richest person on Earth, wants to take a space flight in about a week using a device from his company Blue Origin. Elon Musk (PayPal, Tesla) also wants to sell tourist spaceflights with his company, SpaceX.
Branson and his opponents have recently argued over the definition of “space” and where to begin. The boundary at which the Earth ends and space begins is called the Karman Line. Branson follows NASA, which says space begins at an altitude of 80 kilometers. Bezos follows the FAI aviation association, which says the line is at an altitude of 100 kilometers. So Bezos claims that only his clients really go into space.
Read also: Billionaire Richard Branson makes his first space flight today: “My wife already said she wouldn’t come to my funeral” (+)
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