Branson Beats Bezos to Space

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The battle for space tourism is heating up. British billionaire Sir Richard Branson will attempt to reach space on July 11 of this year, beating competitor Jeff Bezos' deadline to launch on July 20. If all goes well, Branson will take a trip to the edge of space accompanied by a crew of three Virgin Galactic specialists. On June 25 the company was granted a license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to begin their public spaceflight venture. The company expects to be fully operational and ready to begin transporting paying customers to space not later than early 2022.

"After more than 16 years of research, engineering, and testing, Virgin Galactic stands at the vanguard of a new commercial space industry, which is set to open space to humankind and change the world for good,'' Branson said in a statement. "I’m honoured to help validate the journey our future astronauts will undertake and ensure we deliver the unique customer experience people expect from Virgin."
 
I think the whole idea of 'public spaceflight' is pointless.
It is just a rich mans plaything.

Space flight is very expensive, heavy on resources and potentially very dangerous. It will be interesting to see what happens the first time one of these pleasure flight goes wrong and kills the drew and passengers; this will happen.

I support space exploration for scientific purposes. We will have to move away from the planet eventually.
But there are better ways to spend billions than letting fat cats float in a capsule for a few minutes.
Branson was talking about 'space hotels'. What would be the point ?
 
I agree. I'm sure they are going to make customers sign a ton of wavers absolving them of any liability before they let you fly in that contraction.
 
A novelty now maybe. But international flighttimes are massively shortened by this type of flight. It is an inevitable and logical progression for international travel.
I would put my hand up in a heartbeat if it was affordable. And one day it will be.
 
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I think the whole idea of 'public spaceflight' is pointless.
It is just a rich mans plaything.

Space flight is very expensive, heavy on resources and potentially very dangerous. It will be interesting to see what happens the first time one of these pleasure flight goes wrong and kills the drew and passengers; this will happen.

I support space exploration for scientific purposes. We will have to move away from the planet eventually.
But there are better ways to spend billions than letting fat cats float in a capsule for a few minutes.
Branson was talking about 'space hotels'. What would be the point ?
With all the progress SpaceX has made? To further progress tech and science would assume investment is needed more importantly Capitalism is making space a closer reality for all
 
High speed international travel is unnecessary, and becoming more so by the day.

We have video conferencing these days. And as the use of 3D imaging becomes more refined, you will soon not be able to tell who is there and who is not.

Most of the meetings can be done that way. The whole reason for physical meetings is an anachronism. Good for a jolly and an excuse to get flirtatious with your staff, but check for cameras first.
 
I think the numbers prior to the effects of covid would disagree mate. The skies are / were full
 
People are busting to travel, our airports get flooded as soon as OZ and NZ open the travel door. The rest of the world will be the same the minute it is deemed safe again, I have a long service leave holiday planned for as soon as it is safe. Going toget of the plane in the UK, buy a motorbike, stick my swag on the back and ride. Put on hold since covid now but on the to do list.
Got to sit down next to Bonzo's grave and have a whisky with him. :)
 
Bezos will be a more stressful trip. A lot more things to go wrong with his rig.
Yeah his version feels a bit like Duct Taping yourself to a big bottle rocket by comparison.
As an impessive acheivement that it was, I found Bransons show a bit underwhelming.