British billionaire Sir Richard Branson intends to beat Jeff Bezos into space.
The Amazon founder will rocket into space on July 20th. Blue Origin is an automated spacecraft without a pilot. Bezos, his brother and 82-year-old aviation pioneer Wally Funk will be on New Shepard's inaugural space flight. As will a passenger, who paid $28 million at auction for the privilege.
The 70-year-old Richard Branson announced on Thursday that his Virgin Galactic will launch next weekend on July 11th. His spacecraft will have two pilots and four “astronauts.” Branson gave himself the ID on Virgin Galactic’s inaugural flight as “Astronaut 001."
Branson teased that when Virgin Galactic returns to earth, he will reveal how you can take a ride on his spaceship. The ticket price is around a half-million dollars for the “private astronaut experience.”
P.S. I almost wet my pants riding on Space Mountain. Not sure if I would climb into a rocket ship… although the astronaut suits DO look pretty cool. :) ~Shelby