Virgin Galactic faces even more setbacks in its paid space travel. Reuters reports that Virgin has postponed its first commercial research flight, Unity 23, to mid-October. The mission was originally scheduled for late September or early October, but a supplier warned of a possible “manufacturing defect” in the flight control actuation system, Virgin said. It … Read more
Dieses letzte Wochenende zeigte den vielbeschworenen Start der ersten (nicht zahlenden) Passagiere von Virgin Galactic, mit Gründer und CEO Richard Branson. Nach den Feierlichkeiten hatte ich die Gelegenheit, mit dem Präsidenten des Unternehmens, Mike Moses, zu sprechen, der mit jedem Detail der Operation und den Plänen des Unternehmens für den Übergang von Test- zu kommerziellen … Read more
On May 5, 1961, Commander Alan Shepard steered his Mercury Freedom 7 spacecraft 116 miles above the surface of the planet to become the first American to enter Earth orbit. Last Sunday, Sir Richard Branson was escorted aboard the SpaceShipTwo Unity by Virgin Galactic to an altitude of 80 kilometers. Somehow these men are both … Read more
Welcome to the space race, billionaire edition. Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Galactic, is scheduled to take off into space on Sunday, if the weather and technical controls permit. If the mission is successful, Branson will beat competitor Jeff Bezos, who recently stepped down as CEO of Amazon, by days. Bezos’ own rocket company … Read more
How serious could the suborbital space race between Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos get? (GeekWire photos) Jeff Bezos has a longstanding rivalry with SpaceX’s Elon Musk, but now his space company Blue Origin is stepping up the stakes with future space traveler Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic – and the Twitterverse isn’t amusing. Today’s escalation from … Read more
Sir Richard Branson could visit space before Jeff Bezos. Virgin Galactic has announced that it will open the flight window for SpaceShipTwo Unity’s next rocket-powered test flight on July 11th, more than a week before Blue Origin’s first tourist flight is scheduled to take off on July 20th with Bezos on board. The Unity 22 … Read more
How serious could the suborbital space race between Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos get? (GeekWire photos) Would Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson try to steal a march from Blue Origin (and Amazon) founder Jeff Bezos when it comes to which billionaire will fly his own suborbital spaceship first? There was some excitement over the question … Read more
The man who probably ushered in the current SPAC rush with the merger of Virgin Galactic with his holding company Social Capital Hedosophia has sold the rest of his personal stakes in the space tourism company. Chamath Palihapitiya, who serves as Virgin Galactic’s chief executive officer, still owns 6.2% of the company’s shares in partnership … Read more