Elon Musk books a flight to space with...Virgin Galactic.?
Elon Musk books a flight to space with...Virgin Galactic?
Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, Tesla, and the Boring Company, is taking a ride up to space with Virgin Galactic.
Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's private spaceflight company, performed its first fully crewed flight to space with Branson and others on board on Sunday. The Wall Street Journal reported Musk's ticket purchase for a future trip shortly afterward. While Musk's company has been developing and testing commercial passenger rockets for years, it seems he isn't content waiting for his own vehicles to be ready to exit Earth's stratosphere.
Ahead of Branson's trip to space over the weekend, he tweeted out a picture of himself with Musk, signaling the two billionaires' friendship. Musk tweeted, "Will see you there to wish you the best" at Branson on Saturday as well.
There are no details on when Musk will be going to space with Virgin Galactic. He is one of hundreds of people, many of them celebrities like Lady Gaga and Tom Hanks, who purchased tickets for up to $250,000 each before the first fully crewed flight had even happened. Virgin Galactic is still the only space tourism company of the big three — Bezos' Blue Origin as well as Branson's and Musk's companies — to have clearance to bring customers to space from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Virgin Galactic spaceplane that reached zero gravity about 50 miles above Earth on Sunday was a SpaceShipTwo class spaceplane. Instead of a having a vertical launch like a traditional space rocket, SpaceShipTwos are brought to the upper atmosphere by a mother ship that takes off horizontally on a runway like an airplane. Once high enough, the SpaceShipTwo is deployed and rockets itself the rest of the way past the stratosphere. After descending, it lands horizontally like an airplane on a runway.
Musk's ride on Branson's spaceplane won't be at all similar to one on SpaceX's Starship rockets, which take off vertically.
The third space-focused billionaire, Jeff Bezos, is scheduled to ride up into space on July 20 aboard a rocket developed by his own space company, Blue Origin. While Musk and Branson seem chummy online, Bezos seems to be a bit of a third wheel.
Virgin Galactic has not yet announced when it will perform more space tourism flights. SpaceX has not revealed a timeline for when they will begin to test crewed flights.
I was actually hoping that they were not. Else, I would still like to eat at McDonalds if I owned KFC, or my kids might.
ReplyDeleteMaybe him Branson and Bezos can stay in space !
ReplyDeleteGoing to be rough serving cocktails in zero gravity
ReplyDeleteVery different business models.
ReplyDeleteI don't think he should go
ReplyDeleteIt used to be a space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Now it’s a space race between billionaires.
ReplyDeleteHe's spitting on Jeff Bezos :D
ReplyDeleteCapitalism makes us believe that everything is a zero sum game.
ReplyDeleteHe’s doing what 50 did the Ja this man crazyyyy
ReplyDeleteCompetitor research.
ReplyDeleteMarket research? ;D
ReplyDeletewhat about that tiny house you live in ?
ReplyDeleteWhat could happen if....
ReplyDeleteEVIL
ReplyDeleteThey are not Rivels, elon is a young man buildong his empire in a totally diffrent direction to virgin. Branson is a old man who built his empire making his boy hood dream come true
ReplyDelete'How high does your rocket fly? You'd better be careful boys" (Be careful what you wish for) ;) https://youtu.be/XcOHiGonWwU
ReplyDeleteAlways know your competition. Just like the cola wars with Pepsi and coke. You can improve where they need improvement one pushes the other, never stagnant
ReplyDeleteKnow you competitors and gain advantage! :B
ReplyDeletedogs and cats must be friends
ReplyDeleteSharing is caring!
ReplyDeleteNASA space disasters were preventable and fueled by the arrogance and denial of the powerful who disregarded safety issues. Let's hope the billionaires racing to space don't let their egos rush their missions and dilute safety standards. https://christine-green.medium.com/the-challenger...
ReplyDeletenaah doubt it.. not in the 21 century with billionaires
DeleteYou can put your dogecoin in your pocket but it's still not even close to the moon
ReplyDelete