Billionaires and their spacecraft: Next round of attractions? | Business and Economic Affairs

Sir Richard Branson is now a naval officer. The 70-year-old billionaire crashed into a star in the Virgin Galactic spacecraft Sunday morning – nine days before the race Jeff Bezos is hoping to try to reach the edge of space in Blue Origin.

Branson’s successful airline is more than just a mid-term race between billions; launches a new era of gunpowder that could open the door to further travel for government programs for untrained professionals – and in doing so, is also boosting the economy.

Following Sunday’s victory, Virgin Galactic hopes to launch commercial flights in a small area next year. To date, the company has sold nearly 600 tickets, earning $ 250,000 each. Some of the people who paid were paid as celebrities like Tom Hanks and Lady Gaga as well as their fellow billionaire, Elon Musk.

“I’ve been wanting to do this since I was a kid,” Branson said after returning to terra firma on Sunday. “But frankly, nothing can prepare you to see the Earth from space.”

A regular salesman, Branson attributes the great success of Virgin Galactic, to which she founded. But the richest man in the world – Jeff Bezos – competing for a market segment with his company, Blue Origin.

And Bezos’ ambitions do not end there. Blue Origin also seeks to build spacecraft and support NASA back to the moon, such as Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX.

Blue Origin was part of a team that lost SpaceX in a multi-billion dollar deal to build NASA’s next space shuttle to promote astronomers to the moon. A protest against the award was presented by Bezos. A verdict on this is expected sometime in August.

Currently, Blue Origin is developing a new rocket, called New Glenn, which competes with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. That rocket is said to start flying sometime next year.

Race to the venue

In the past, space was limited to military commanders or governments and their organizations, such as NASA and the Roscosmos of Russia. But in recent years, a change has taken place, with many secret companies making a name for themselves by launching spacecraft.

Instead of making all the weapons on their own, NASA has turned to business groups to help reduce costs and promote technology. The United States Aviation Agency is reaping the benefits of its employees now with its marketing programs and products.

SpaceX has successfully implemented three space missions in space, reducing the cost of land travel by millions. Meanwhile, the Crew Dragon capsule seat cost NASA about $ 55m compared to the $ 90m NASA was paying for each seat at Roscosmos on a Soyuz flight.

While Musk, Bezos and Branson are currently taking the lead, it was another billionaire named Peter Diamandis who made his debut for entrepreneurs in the late 1990s, by creating a competition that was expected to open up the private sector: Award X.

The first race challenged teams from all over the world to build a spacecraft several times. The first well-established team (and done twice in a short period of time) will win a prize of $ 10m.

It may take up to ten years before the award can be received. A team led by Burt Rutan built a small, rocket-propelled galaxy called SpaceShipOne, designed to launch it from the aircraft, like the old NASA X-15s.

The success of the project encouraged many, as Diamandis expected, and attracted the attention of another landlord – Sir Richard Branson. He acquired the Rutan company, Scaled Composites, and founded his own subsidiary, Virgin Galactic in 2004. He then began work on building the space shuttle, SpaceShipTwo.

The ship lifted six passengers into the air and set up a tourist attraction. Or that is exactly what he expected to happen. Creating something to fly in space became very difficult. Virgin Galactic went missing due to a serious failure of SpaceShipTwo in 2014, which resulted in the death of one of its pilots.

But Branson and his team of engineers persevered. The assertion was successful when the company hit the airwaves in 2018. Additional experiments, including one with the company’s Chief Astronaut Instructor, Beth Moses, laid the foundation for Branson’s well-known tour on Sunday.

“Today is the result of many years of hard work and great commitment from many,” George Whitesides, chairman of the Virgin Galactic Space Advisory Board, told Al Jazeera. “More space travel will change the future of humanity for the better, and this flight will help make this happen.”

Six members of the Oneness 22 [Courtesy of Virgin Galactic]

Destination

Branson and three other co-workers were arrested in SpaceShipTwo Sunday morning following a 90-minute delay due to bad weather in the desert in New Mexico in the US. A quartet of travel experts and their two pilots were able to successfully complete the pilot test to ensure that Branson’s plane is ready for passengers who can travel safely.

The billionaire pilots in Unity were pilots David Mackay and Michael Masucci, along with Virgin astronaut trainer Beth Moses, aircraft manufacturer Colin Bennett and vice president of state relations, Sirisha Bandla.

Branson’s voyage began with a surprise when Virgin’s Galactic spacecraft – a VSS Unity rocket-propelled fighter jet – took off from the company’s base of Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico at 8:40 p.m. 14:40 GMT) following a 90-minute delay due to inclement weather.

The company released all livestream stands, featuring Stephen Colbert, and featured performances from R&B singer Khalid following the staff’s return to Earth. It was smooth, it was amazing, it was all you could expect from a growing company.

The experiments were aided by the success of the actual project, and the spacecraft, called Unity, is coming as far as 80km (50 miles) – NASA’s definition of space – giving Branson and his five co-workers a nearly three-minute reduction along with Earth’s clear view. Before the Earth returns to space it will be able to return to the original Virgin Islands in New Mexico.

A successful flight disrupted Bezos, who is planning to take off next week.

Bezos has announced that he will be flying with his brother and unspoken winner who won a seat last month to benefit Club Club for the future, Blue Origin sponsors who support science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The winning prize brought $ 28m.

The trio will be joined by 82-year-old Wally Funk, a successful pilot who has been waiting for 60 years to fly. She was previously one of the NASA women in the space program called Mercury 13 – a group of women who want to enter space who, in 1961, were tested on the same test as NASA’s first team of scientists, Mercury 7.

Funk, who is set to become the oldest man to fly in space next week – a record John Glenn made on Earth’s discovery at the age of 77 – has not given up on his dream of becoming a moon traveler.

“I didn’t let anything stop me,” Funk told Al Jazeera. “I know that my body and mind can absorb whatever the outfit a seaside item would like to offer: try a more comfortable, comfortable room; centrifuge test, which I know I can do five G’s. These things are easy for me. ”

Funk has a reputation, which was set up in 1961, for the longest time in an isolated tank – shutting out more than 10 hours and breaking John Glenn’s reputation. This will be useful because participants in Blue Origin must develop other medical qualifications as part of their aspirations.

Funk, along with another big name in the market – Elon Musk – has bought tickets on Virgin Galactic. It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post. Funk will continue to book his sales before being selected by Blue Origin.

Responding to Musk’s purchase over the weekend, Branson said he could return one day and buy a ticket on a SpaceX tour. And Musk has been on hand to impress Branson since Sunday.

The Ship of Unity 22 is flying over the Earth, crossing the boundaries of space [Courtesy of Virgin Galactic]

Persistent customer service

In recognition of the hot competition in the travel market, Blue Origin took to Twitter on July 9 to highlight the differences between them and Virgin Galactic – highlighting the long-distance differences and the number of test planes. Blue Origin also boasted that it had “huge windows” in the sky. (Until you look at the cup at the International Space Station.)

Former NASA scientist Tom Jones helped to clarify its design. According to the former four-time space designer, both designs have their advantages. “It may be simpler and cheaper to design and fly than spaceplane, but spaceplane can fly more frequently, because it doesn’t mean parachutes, but it depends on the runway,” he told Al Jazeera.

Although his company boasts on Twitter, Bezos took to Instagram to thank Branson and his team for coming down, and wrote a letter saying “thank you so much for their visit. I look forward to joining the team!”

He approached Monday after the FAA granted final approval to Blue Origin to carry people into the air at New Shephard.

If all goes well, Bezos will be the second secret leader to join the “billionaires in the air” club on July 20 – the 52nd anniversary of April 11.