So, who are you rooting for?
Two multi-billionaires are in a race to go to the edge of space next month, and it is tough competition.
Just recently, the world’s second-richest man, Jeff Bezos who has stepped down from his role as the CEO of Amazon announced of going on a space trip along with his brother, as it was his childhood dream that he always wanted to accomplish. Now, Richard Branson who has also been eager to make it to space is on the run to make it earlier than Jeff. The time holds the answer as to who is going to win.
Branson has been striving for years to develop a commercial line of spacecraft that would fly him and some paying customers to space and back, and he is within touching distance of achieving his goal. The spacecraft developed by his space company Virgin Galactic called SpaceShipTwo rocket will take the billionaire to the edge of space in the first week of July.
Jeff Bezos’ firm Blue Origin has also developed the spacecraft and extensive testing of it has been conducted successfully. Blue Origin has announced that he will take to space in a span of one month as well, and after experiencing the miracles of space and weightlessness, his space capsule would land in Texas using parachutes.
It seems like both the billionaires have everything in line to soon take to space. This space race clearly makes the Blue Origin and the Virgin Galactic rivals, in a contest where it is yet uncertain who will win.
It seems like once you reach the multi-billionaire mark, the most fun thing is going to space. It makes complete sense too, the human mind never stops asking for more, and there is nearly nothing that a rich person like Bezos or Branson could not do down on earth.
A recent statement from Virgin Galactic says, “We expect to complete the final test flights this summer through to early fall. At this time, we have not determined the date of our next flight.” And this makes me root for Bezos, whose space capsule has conducted several successful tests, which makes the Blue Origin a little ahead of Virgin Galactic, in winning this space contest.