Billionaire Branson prepares to travel to space aboard a Virgin Galactic rocket plane

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Sir Richard Branson stands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) before the Virgin Galactic (SPCE) trades in New York, US, October 28, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

(Reuters) – After decades of polishing his reputation as a daring wealthy magnate on a series of boat trips and hot air ballooning, Richard Branson is preparing to promote his burgeoning astro-tourism venture by blasting off to the final frontier.

Branson’s Virgin Galactic Holding Inc (SPCE.N) is set on Sunday to send the company’s rocket passenger plane, VSS Unity, on its first fully manned test flight to the edge of space, with the British billionaire founding among the six individuals who have connected it. to ride.

The twinkling white spacecraft will carry a twin-fuselage carrier aircraft dubbed VMS Eve (named after Branson’s mother) at 50,000 feet, where the unit will be launched and rocket-powered soaring in an almost vertical climb across the outer edge of Earth’s atmosphere.

At the summit of its flight about 55 miles (89 km) over the New Mexico desert, the crew will experience a few minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth.

If all goes according to plan, the flight will take about 90 minutes and finish where it started – on a runway at Spaceport America near the town of Truth or Consequences.

Virgin’s Unity 22 mission marks the spacecraft’s 22nd test flight, and the company’s fourth manned mission outside Earth’s atmosphere.

But it will be the first to carry a full suite of space travelers – two pilots and four “mission specialists” including Branson.

Starting point and propaganda

Although the mission is seen as a potential milestone in helping turn citizen rocket travel into a major commercial enterprise, spaceflight remains an inherently risky endeavor.

A previous prototype of a Virgin Galactic missile plane crashed during a test flight over California’s Mojave Desert in 2014, killing one pilot and seriously injuring another.

If Sunday’s flight is successful, it will give Branson the bragging rights to defeating rival Jeff Bezos and his space company, Blue Origin, in what is known as the “billionaire space race.” Bezos, founder of online retail giant Amazon.com, is scheduled to travel aboard Blue Origin’s semi-orbital rocket ship, New Shepard, later this month.

Branson’s official job aboard his flight is to “assess the astronaut’s private experience,” and his notes will be used to “enhance the flight for all future astronauts,” according to Virgin press materials.

But Marco Caceres, a senior aerospace analyst at Virginia-based consulting firm Telgroup, said both the Branson and Bezos spacecraft were a “propaganda game.”

“If they are successful, their projects will be taken more seriously,” Caceres said. “There are a lot of millionaires in the world who are willing to go on an adventure, as long as they see it as relatively safe.”

Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, along with fellow billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX, compete head-to-head in the emerging space tourism business, even though Musk has a head start.

SpaceX, which plans to send its first civilian crew (without a mask) into orbit in September, has already launched several cargo payloads and astronauts to the International Space Station.

Branson, 70, insists there is a high demand from wealthy astronauts to wander, and that he had no intention of trying to outrun Bezos.

“Not a race”

“This is frankly not a race,” Branson told Reuters in an interview earlier this week. “If it’s a race, it’s a race to produce great spaceships that can get many more people into space. And I think that’s both our goals.”

Space plane pilots, Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci, will control the ignition and shutdown of the ship’s rocket engine, activating the craft’s “feathered” tail maneuver to return to the plane.

The other three specialists are Beth Moses, the company’s chief astronaut trainer. Colin Bennett, Senior Operations Engineer, Virgin Galactic; Sirisha Bandla, Vice President, Research Operations and Government Affairs.

Virgin brands, including Branson’s airline and former record label, have long been associated with the feats of daring by their illustrious founder. Branson set a new record for the fastest boat to cross the Atlantic Ocean in 1986, a year after his initial attempt to rescue an RAF helicopter ended when his ship capsized.

In 1987, he made a record-breaking crossing of the Atlantic by hot air balloon, even though he had to be rescued from the sea again. He went on to break at least two other air balloon speed records but failed to complete any of the three shows of circumnavigating the globe.

As for Sunday’s trip, Branson said this week he’s excited, “and I don’t really think there’s anything to fear.”

Assuming the mission goes well, Virgin said it is planning two more test flights of the space plane before beginning commercial service next year.

The company said it has received more than 600 flight reservations, priced at about $250,000 per ticket, but it hopes to eventually bring the cost per seat down to $40,000.

(Covering by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles). Additional reporting by Kevin Fogarty in Washington. Editing by Daniel Wallis

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