Richard Branson Virgin Galactic vs Jeff Bezos Blue Origin

Jeff Bezos plans to launch himself to the sting of area on July 20, however fellow billionaire Sir Richard Branson may nonetheless attempt to fly with Virgin Galactic first.

Virgin Galactic management beforehand said the corporate would conduct three extra spaceflights to finish improvement testing of spacecraft VSS Unity. The corporate is working to start flying paying passengers in early 2022, having accomplished a profitable mission final month with simply two pilots

Below that plan, the primary of these subsequent three flights would carry 4 passengers to check the spacecraft’s cabin, the second can be with Branson, and the third would fly members of the Italian Air Drive for skilled astronaut coaching.

However a report earlier this month by a blogger based mostly in Mojave, California – the place Virgin Galactic manufactures its automobiles – stated the corporate is contemplating reorganizing its flight schedule to launch Branson subsequent, as an alternative of second. The report got here shortly after Bezos introduced he would fly on Blue Origin’s first passenger spaceflight, deliberate to launch on July 20 – suggesting Branson might but attempt to beat Bezos by personally flying to area over the July four weekend.

Virgin Galactic has not confirmed or denied it’s contemplating a reorganization of its spaceflight schedule, which CEO Michael Colglazier emphasised in an interview with CNBC.

“I do know there’s loads of curiosity and hypothesis on the market however we’ve not introduced both the date nor the individuals that might be on these,” Colglazier stated. “We have now three extra flights in our check flight program and we’re on that path and we will proceed on that path.”

Branson’s Virgin Galactic, based in 2004, and Bezos’ Blue Origin, based in 2000, are competing to take passengers on quick flights to the sting of area, a sector generally known as suborbital tourism. The businesses’ spacecraft attain an altitude of about 80 kilometers to 100 kilometers (or about 260,000 to 330,000 toes), spending a couple of minutes floating in microgravity.

Shares of Virgin Galactic jumped greater than 30% in buying and selling on Friday, after asserting the FAA granted the corporate the license it must fly passengers on future spaceflights.

“The flight check program shifts now from … a number of the technical features – that we had been persevering with to show out for ourselves and for the FAA – and we’re now shifting to the cabin expertise,” Colglazier. “The primary of those [next three spaceflights] we stated would have 4 mission specialists, the second as nicely, after which one adopted by the Italian astronauts.”

Colglazier emphasised that “the Could 22 flight was very profitable for us” and, with the FAA’s approval now in hand, Virgin Galactic is popping its “consideration to clarifying after we’ll be prepared for our subsequent spaceflight.”

Whereas Virgin Galactic hopes to ultimately have a number of spacecraft flying every week, at present the corporate’s VSS Unity spacecraft is the one one operational in its fleet – making turnaround time a key issue if Branson needs to launch earlier than July 20.

Greater than two years in the past, when Virgin Galactic flew its first and second spaceflights, it took the corporate 71 days to show across the spacecraft between the launches.

Getting the subsequent spaceflight launched by the July four weekend requires getting ready the spacecraft in simply 43 days. However a turnaround time of 71 days would imply Virgin Galactic’s subsequent spaceflight launches on Aug. 1, a pair weeks after Bezos plans to fly.

Nonetheless, Virgin Galactic has launched rocket-powered check flights extra quickly earlier than. As the corporate was ramping up testing in 2018, it launched VSS Unity on three more and more excessive altitude rocket-powered flights because it received nearer to reaching area. These three rocket-powered flights – launched on April 5, Could 29, and July 26 in 2018 – noticed the corporate flip round VSS Unity in 54 days and 58 days, respectively.

Launching earlier than July 20 would require Virgin Galactic put together VSS Unity in 58 days or much less – in essence, as rapidly because it ever has earlier than.

For now, Colglazier stated Virgin Galactic is “simply not at a degree” to speak about timing of the subsequent spaceflight.

“We method this very methodically, with security as the primary consideration, and when we’ve all these bins checked and all of the steps in place – that is after we can transfer ahead and announce,” Colglazier stated.