Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson is set to take his first jaunt to the edge of space ahead of commercial spaceflight rival Jeff Bezos, with an

Richard Branson plans to trump Jeff Bezos by 9 days in billionaires' space race

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2021-07-02 13:00:07

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson is set to take his first jaunt to the edge of space ahead of commercial spaceflight rival Jeff Bezos, with an 11 July trip aboard VSS Unity.

Last night's announcement listed Branson among the four passengers aboard the flight, the 22nd flight test for the rocket-powered glider, although, if successful, only the fourth to reach the edge of space (depending on one's definition of where space starts).

Yesterday was also notable for the confirmation by Bezos' Blue Origin of the intention to fly Mercury 13 member Wally Funk with the Bezos brothers on the first crewed flight of the New Shepard. That flight is scheduled for 20 July.

Unashamed showman Branson has tried to trump that, even if VSS Unity will not soar as high as the New Shepard. Its last test flight reached just over 89km while the New Shepard went comfortably beyond 100km.

The difference is significant, depending on where you think the line between the atmosphere and space lies. Known as the Kármán line, NASA, the FAA and the US Air Force put it at 80km above Earth. However, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) has it at 100km. And the latter is responsible for records in astronautics.