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Sir Richard Branson hopes to make history for Britain by winning billionaires’ space race
SIX hours before the Euros final, Sir Richard Branson hopes to make history for Britain – by winning the billionaires’ space race.
For nearly two decades the Virgin boss has been battling with super-rich rivals Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to be the first into space on their own rocket.
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Branson, 70, was due to set off first thing this morning in the New Mexico desert, but a tropical storm delayed his lift off.
He will instead fly a few hours later, 55 miles above the Earth in Virgin Galactic space ship Unity 22 — nine days ahead of Bezos.
Bezos quit as Amazon boss this week to concentrate on the launch of his Blue Origin rocket on July 20, the 52nd anniversary of the moon landing.
When Branson heard, he announced he would fly into space this weekend.
But this week he played down claims he was an opportunist who brazenly took his chance to go first.
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He says: “Honestly, there’s isn’t any competition. I’ve spoken to Jeff on the phone and we wished each other luck.
“We’ve both spent 17 to 20 years getting there. It has been as difficult for him as it has been for us.”
In New Mexico, Branson and two Brits — chief astronaut Dave Mackay, 64, a former RAF pilot, and engineer Colin Bennett, 36 — will climb aboard the Unity 22 space ship that the Virgin tycoon hopes will one day take thousands of passengers into space.
Sir Richard last night thanked Elon Musk for being "typically supportive" ahead of the historic flight.
He had tweeted a countdown to lift-off with Musk commenting: "Will see you there to wish you the best."
Sir Richard replied: "Thanks for being so typically supportive and such a good friend, Elon.
"Great to be opening up space for all - safe travels and see you at Spaceport America."
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Already 700 people have paid more than £180,000 each to make a sub-orbital flight with Virgin, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Justin Bieber and Ronan Keating.
The company suspended taking bookings in 2014 when its SpaceShipTwo crashed to earth, killing the co-pilot and seriously injuring the pilot.
But investigators blamed pilot error and this year the US Federal Aviation Administration gave the go-ahead for Virgin to start taking bookings for commercial flights next year.
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While Bezos has set his sights on using the moon’s resources for the benefit of people on Earth, Tesla boss Musk wants to colonise Mars with his SpaceX programme.
But Branson says: “We see ours as being the spaceship for Earth.
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“I believe that, once people have gone to space, they come back with renewed enthusiasm to try and tackle what is happening on this planet.”
He added: “I have always been a dreamer. It’s time to turn that into a reality aboard the next Virgin Galactic spaceflight.”
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90-MIN FLIGHT A FIRST
UNITY 22 TAKE-OFF
(2pm, July 11, 2021)
TODAY at Spaceport America in New Mexico, Astronaut 001 Richard Branson will climb aboard his rocket plane Virgin Space Ship Unity outside Virgin Galactic’s main hangar.
- For this 22nd Virgin Galactic test flight, the 62ft-long SS2, which looks like a fighter plane, nestles beneath the twin hulls of giant mother ship Eve, named after Branson’s mother, who died in January aged 96.
- Pilot CJ Sturckow opens VMS Eve’s four engines to maximum thrust as the plane, with a 140-foot wingspan, powers along the 2.4-mile runway.
- After take-off, the mother ship climbs above Death Valley, turns west over Sequoia National Park before heading south towards the Mojave Desert.
- Sixty minutes into the flight, at 45,000 feet co-pilot Kelly Latimer onboard VMS Eve releases Unity SS2.
- Chief pilot Dave Mackay calls: “Fire!” and co-pilot Michael Masucci ignites 1,700 gallons of nitrous oxide and one-ton of solid fuel, causing a controlled explosion in the 2,700lb rocket engine.
- Approaching Mach 1 – 767mph – the ship twitches as it enters the “transonic zone”.
- Once Unity is travelling at the speed of sound, dials in the cockpit turn blue to show it is safe to stabilise the ship.
- Ten seconds into the burn, at Mach 1.8 – twice the speed of a cruise missile – Mackay tilts Unity SS2 to almost 90 degrees, heading for the blackness of space.
- After 20 more seconds of burn, SS2 peaks at 2,300mph, three times the speed of sound – reaching the edge of space at 300,000 feet. By now the silver craft is more than 55 miles above the ground – almost ten times higher than passenger jets fly.
- As Earth’s gravity ceases to pull, Mackay flips the spaceship on to its back so passengers can see Earth through six huge windows.
- Passengers release their harnesses and float for four minutes.
- Mackay then rights the ship and heads for home. On re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere, the pilots are hit by 5G of force. Strapped in their seats, passengers are hit by 4 x gravity, which can cause “greyout” – a loss of colour vision when blood leaves the eyeballs. At worst they may be sick or suffer loss of consciousness.
- Giant fins on the back of the craft rotate to slow and stabilise Unity SS2 as the aircraft glides back to earth.
- Touchdown is due at Spaceport America 90 minutes after take-off.
- At £180,000 a ticket, that’s £2,000 a minute.
Sir Richard Branson discusses his trip to space from his launch pad in New Mexico
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