Last Sunday a British man made history by leading a team further than they have ever got before. No, we’re not talking about Harry Kane leading England to their first ever Euros final, but Richard Branson, the 70-year-old founder of Virgin Galactic, leading that company’s first ever manned flight to space.

After the flight in the shuttle SpaceShip Two Unity 22 on 11 July, Branson was photographed looking victorious at Spaceport America in New Mexico and called the hours-long trip the ”

.” Presumably the only thing that would have made him happier would have been a handy Virgin Galactic stewardess whom he could lift aloft like a trophy.

Instead, he had to make do with becoming the first of the tech billionaire space obsessives to actually venture into the cold reaches of space itself – a significant step not only in the tech mogul race to dominate space travel, but in humankind’s relationship with space.

Even if you belong to the group that believes money is best spent on solving problems on earth instead of adventuring in space, a successful commercial flight ad astra has huge potential for capturing the world’s imagination (although perhaps not quite to the same degree as Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford et al).

Branson managed the feat after travelling 53 miles above the earth. But there is some controversy around whether he actually achieved 

 flight or not. While the US Federal Aviation Administration considers 50 miles above the earth to be the edge of space and awards astronaut wings to anyone who gets that far, the Kármán line – at 62 miles above the earth – is the internationally recognised threshold where space is said to begin.

Naturally, Branson’s main competitor, the earth’s richest man (and, by default, also the galaxy’s richest man) Jeff Bezos threw shade at Branson’s accomplishment, suggesting Branson’s trip to ‘space’ was essentially a glorified flight.

Bezos own space flight company, Blue Origin is set to launch its first flight – with Bezos aboard – on 20th July. Ahead of the flight, and following Branson’s own trip, Blue Origin 

“From the beginning, New Shepard was designed to fly above the Kármán line so none of our astronauts have an asterisk next to their name. For 96% of the world’s population, space begins 100 km up at the internationally recognized Kármán line.”

Adding that “Only 4% of the world recognizes a lower limit of 80 km or 50 miles as the beginning of space. New Shepard flies above both boundaries. One of the many benefits of flying with Blue Origin.”

However, with a reported 600 customers lined up for Virgin Galactic space flights from 2022 (at a ticket price of £180,000) a seat, no less) Branson is unlikely to be concerned about Bezos’ barbs.

It isn’t all bad blood among the tech space jet set either: Elon Musk’s Space X has previously tweeted in support of Virgin Galactic and Branson has invited Musk to his Virgin Galactic launch party.

But how, exactly, did Virgin Galactic find its way to the launch pad in the first place?

Wreckage from the fatal 2014 crash — the lowest ebb for Galactic


Branson’s entry into the billionaire’s space race came in 2004 when he announced he would partner with celebrated aeronautical engineer Burt Rutan to offer commercial space flights. The pair would build on the technology of SpaceShipOne, Rutan’s own space shuttle which had become the firs civilian shuttle to enter space.

“We hope to create thousands of astronauts over the next few years and bring alive their dream of seeing the majestic beauty of our planet from above, the stars in all their glory and the amazing sensation of weightlessness,” Branson said at the time.

The pair then set up The Spaceship Company, which would own tech developed by Rhutan’s own company Scaled Composites. The aim at this time was to have tourists in space by 2007.

Naturally, delays occurred along the way, including a tragedy in 2007 when three employees of Scaled Composites were killed and three more seriously injured in an explosion while testing components of a rocket motor.

By 2010 Virgin Galactic was carrying out tests on a prototype shuttle, including dropping it mid-air and safely allowing it to glide to the ground at the Mojave Air and Spaceport. The signs were promising. Then in October 2014 the Virgin Galactic shuttle the VSS Enterprise took off from the Mojave spaceport for its 55th test flight. Sadly, it broke apart 11 seconds into the flight, killing co-pilot Mike Alsbury with pilot Pete Siebold sustaining serious injuries.

An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that one of the vehicle’s ‘feathers’ – a device used to slow its descent upon returning from space – had deployed prematurely causing the craft to break up.

Following a series of reviews and cautiously optimistic tests, Virgin Galactic announced SpaceShipTwo, the shuttle which has just successfully taken Branson to space. Designed to carry two pilots and up to six passengers, the shuttle is carried into launch position by a carrier plane called VMS Eve. After reaching a certain altitude the shuttle is released, launches into space then returns to the Spaceport, as it did on Sunday.

Branson was accompanied on the mission by the vehicle’s two pilots, Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci, and three Galactic employees: Beth Moses, Colin Bennett and Sirisha Bandla.

“I’ve had my notebook with me and I’ve written down 30 or 40 little things that will make the experience for the next person who goes to space with us that much better,” Branson said. “The only way sometimes you can find these little things is to get in a spaceship and go to space and experience it for yourself.”

As for the Kármán line dispute, Branson explained during an interview with National Public Radio that both the FAA and NASA recognise the 50-mile boundary as the definition of astronaut-hood.

The actual difference in experience is going to be almost non-existent

Ultimately, should Bezos, Branson and Musk get their space tourism programmes off the ground, only the wealthiest of the wealthy will be able to compare the three experiences.

They won’t be the first passengers in space, however. Back in the 2000s, a total of seven high net worth individuals forked out to visit the International Space Station (ISS) before such trips were banned in 2009.

With the Russian space agency now reprising their commercial flights to the ISS, and companies like Axiom seeking to launch private space stations for people to visit, it seems the race to explore this final frontier is only just beginning.

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson congratulated Bezos on the launch — but the rivalry burns brightly


Tech moguls, privately funded space stations and Russian billionaires aside, Virgin Galactic’s trickiest opponent may yet prove to be its own stockholders. While its stock almost doubled in the run up to Branson’s flight, his post-flight announcement that the company would sell $500m in stock, its price had fallen by almost 17% by the end of the day.

The company intends to use the funds “for general corporate purposes, including working capital, general and administrative matters and capital expenditures for its manufacturing capabilities, development of its spaceship fleet and other infrastructure improvements”.

As of Monday 12 July, the company’s shares were worth around $43,for a total market value of about $11.8 billion – well below their high of $63 billion in February 2020. A strange turn of events considering the company has just pulled off its most successful coups.

Branson, who has a 24% stake in the company is unlikely to be deterred by the market. “I have dreamt of this moment since I was a kid, but honestly nothing can prepare you for the view of Earth from space,” he said in a press conference following his space flight. “The whole thing was just magical.”

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