A
successful flight by Branson aboard Virgin's VSS Unity spaceplane would mark a
key milestone in a race to usher in a new era of private commercial space
travel.
It would
also mean that Branson would travel beyond Earth's atmosphere ahead of Bezos,
the founder of rival space tourism venture Blue Origin.
Bezos, who
founded retail giant Amazon.com Inc, is slated to fly to space on July 20 along
with his brother, Mark, trailblazing female pilot Wally Funk and a so-far
unidentified person who plunked down $28 million to join the suborbital
joyride.
Reuters
reported last month that Branson was considering a show-stealing mission just
days ahead of Bezos' planned trip.
The race,
which also includes SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, is underpinned by
optimism that space travel will become mainstream as nascent technology is
proven and costs fall, fueling what UBS estimates could be a $3 billion annual
tourism market by 2030. Musk has not set a date for his space flight.
"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 accompanying Virgin's announcement.
Branson's
July 11 mission will be the twenty-second flight test for VSS Unity, and the
company's fourth crewed spaceflight, Virgin said.
But it will
be the first to carry a full crew of two pilots and four "mission
specialists," including Branson.
Two
additional test flights are planned before Virgin expects to begin commercial
service in 2022, Virgin said.
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