By: Rachel Gilmore
https://globalnews.ca/author/rachel-gilmore/
Richard Branson has become the first rocket company boss to be launched off the planet, after Virgin Galactic’s space plane hurtled to the edge of space and back with the self-described “tie-loathing adventurer” and billionaire on board.
The London-born founder of the Virgin Group joined five company employees for the test flight Sunday morning, which took off from New Mexico’s southern desert at 10:30 a.m. ET.
>>It’s the company’s fourth trip to the edge of space. The first successful launch took place in 2018, following two disastrous failures that had taken place since Virgin Galactic’s founding in 2004.
A 2007 rocket motor test in California’s Mojave Desert left three workers dead and three more injured. Then in 2014, the rocket plane Enterprise — named after the “Star Trek” ship — broke apart during a test flight, killing one pilot and seriously injuring the other.
But after making it off the planet once, the successful ship — named Unity by the late physicist Stephen Hawking — has since made it to space two more times.
After Sunday’s launch went off without a hitch, the 70-year-old Branson joined a group of just shy of 600 people who have ever had the chance to leave planet Earth.
>>“I’m in my 70s now, so you either let yourself go, or you get fit and enjoy life,” Branson said ahead of the trip.
>>When he makes it to space, he said, “I’ll be looking back at our beautiful Earth and taking it all in.”
Now he’s had the chance to do just that, with his wife, children and grandchildren watching from the ground.
https://globalnews.ca/news/8019139/space-richard-branson-billionaire-unity-jeff-bezos/