Near-earth orbit will become a tourist destination. Virgin Galactic founder's space travel is called "a complete experience of a lifetime"

on July 11th, 221, richard branson, the British billionaire and founder of Virgin Galactic, took the company's Spaceship II (or VSS Unity) and launched from a launch site in the mountains of New Mexico, USA. He successfully flew out of the earth's atmosphere and reached the space boundary for the first time with full crew. Although this type of spacecraft has gone to space three times before, this is the first launch similar to the all-commercial flight promised by Virgin Galactic to the public, and it is also a historic manned space test flight, which has laid a milestone for human beings to carry out commercial travel in the future.

"Spaceship 2" was first carried by the mother ship to an altitude of about 13, meters, and then climbed to an altitude of about 88, meters independently from the mother ship. Virgin Galactic plans to launch private space travel service in 222, with a fare of $25,/person, and about 6 people have paid the deposit.

As the founder of the first private space company to reach space in person, Branson said that this space flight was "a complete experience of a lifetime" and "now I am overlooking a beautiful space port".

"Spaceship 2" flew for four minutes in a microgravity environment in a suborbital orbit up to 88km above the earth's surface. The test flight was originally estimated to take about 9 minutes from liftoff to landing.

After more than an hour of liftoff, flight and return mission, the spacecraft successfully landed on the runway in New Mexico, which brought a perfect end to Virgin Galactic's fourth space flight.

After returning to Earth, Branson went to the pulpit to celebrate. "The whole thing is amazing." He said.

At the subsequent press conference, Branson was still very excited. He said, "I don't know what I will say, because I feel that I am still in space."

Branson is one of the six people in this space flight, including two pilots and three experts. Before the launch, Branson said that the flight would open a new era of commercial space travel.

However, the cost of commercial space flight is beyond the reach of ordinary people. It is estimated that each space flight ticket is about $25,. Despite this, there are many people who want to fly in space, and hundreds of rich people have booked air tickets for the flight.

according to UBS's estimation, the space travel market will probably reach $3 billion in 23.

the experiment of space flight was not smooth sailing. In 214, a prototype of Virgin Galactic crashed in the Mojave Desert in California during a test flight, killing one pilot and seriously injuring another.

Branson personally participated in the test flight on the 11th, which was thought to dispel public concerns about the safety of space travel. If this flight goes well, commercial flight will start next year.

Space flight is regarded as the most advanced air flight, which makes people with space dreams, especially billionaires, flock to it. Branson's flight enhanced the hope of space enthusiasts-soon, not only professional astronauts of NASA and other space agencies, but ordinary people may enjoy regular travel to the sky.

It is believed that Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, another billionaire who owns his own aerospace company, plans to make a similar trip to the edge of space in nine days. Bezos will take off on the 2th of this month on the "New Shepard" rocket developed by his company "Blue Origin" for suborbital space flight. Another billionaire, elon musk, the founder of Tesla, plans to take the SpaceX "Dragon" spacecraft into space in September this year. Previously, the SpaceX rocket system has carried out cargo and manned flights of the International Space Station for NASA many times.

It can be said that Branson personally went into space in a spaceship of his own company. Billionaire entrepreneurs risked injury or death to realize their childhood wishes and advance the goal of making human space flight ordinary.

"They really take action, and they do it." "Seriously, it's admirable," said Eric Anderson, chairman of Space Adventures Limited, the company responsible for launching rockets into orbit.

At 8: 4am on July 11th, the flight of Spacecraft II seemed to be a celebration party between Virgin Galactic and the emerging space tourism industry. Guests include SpaceX founder Musk, New Mexico Governor Michelle grisham, and about 6 customers who have paid for Virgin Galactic's future flights.

With the spacecraft flying into space, stephen colbert, the host of CBS program "Late Show", introduced the content of live broadcast through the network. After landing, R&; B singer k Khalid sang a new song.

After the fuel was exhausted, Spaceship 2 continued to glide to an altitude of 88 kilometers. Four passengers in the back row unfastened their seat belts and experienced weightlessness floating for about four minutes before returning to their seats.

Branson's entourage on board included Beth Moses, chief astronaut instructor of Virgin Galactic, Colin bennett, chief operation and maintenance engineer, and Celisa Bandera, vice president of government affairs and operations research.

bennett said that in the first phase of the flight, he was busy with the task at hand, and then he heard Moses shouting, "Don't forget to look out the window."

he did watch it. "Very Zen." Bennett described the scenery of the earth below. "What attracts me most is the colors and how far away they look. I feel that we have flown too high, which makes me dazzled. "

Bandera's task is to evaluate another target market of Virgin Galactic: let scientists work out how to use the microgravity environment for a few minutes. She conducted an experiment at the University of Florida to observe how plants react in the changing environment during flight, especially in the environment of gravity fluctuation, which is part of the research to help grow food in future long-term space missions.

when the spacecraft re-enters the atmosphere, the downward pull of gravity will resume. Spacecraft 2 glided back to the spaceport and landed.

Moses, president of Virgin Galactic, said that the flight was almost impeccable. "The hull looks as good as new without any problems." Moses said.

The 7-year-old Branson owns numerous companies under Virgin Group. For more than ten years, he has repeatedly declared that he believes that commercial flights will be realized soon. About 6 customers of Virgin Galactic also believe so. They spent $2, or more on air tickets to space, but they are still waiting. Also believe, there are taxpayers in New Mexico. In order to attract Branson's company, they paid a cost of $22 million to build the future vision of an American space port in the desert.

after promising to skip tickets year after year, Virgin Galactic may start to transport the first paying passengers after two more test flights next year. However, because the ticket price is as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars, most people still can't afford this experience.

Virgin Galactic's space plane is an enlarged version of SpaceShipOne. As the first reusable manned spacecraft built by a non-governmental organization, "Spaceship 1" reached space twice in two weeks, so it won the Ansari X Prize in 24 with a prize of $1 million.

Branson initially predicted that commercial flights would start in 27. However, the development of a larger "Spaceship 1" has delayed progress.

Bezos' flight will be about 2 miles southeast of the American spaceport in Van Horne, Texas, where his aerospace company Blue Origin will launch the "New Shepard" rocket and capsule.

Although Blue Origin hasn't been carried by the New Shepard, 15 successful unmanned flight tests on its fully automatic system have convinced the company that it is safe for Bezos to participate in the first manned flight together.

He was accompanied by his younger brother Mark and 82-year-old pilot Mary Wallace Fink. In the 196s, she was one of the women who passed the strict criteria used by NASA to select astronauts, but at that time, NASA had no intention of choosing female astronauts. The fourth unnamed passenger paid $28 million for one of the seats in the auction.

neither the origin of blue nor the space flight of Virgin Galactic can reach the height and speed of entering Earth orbit. These suborbital flights are actually more like giant roller coasters, allowing passengers to float in weightlessness for a few minutes while enjoying the earth scenery in the dark space background.

Bezos' company released a tweet on Friday, emphasizing the competition with Virgin Galactic in space travel passengers. The origin of blue emphasizes the differences between its "New Shepard" rocket and Virgin Galactic's "SpaceShipTwo", including the fact that the "New Shepard" rocket flies higher, 1 kilometers or about 62 miles above sea level, which is usually regarded as the space boundary. However, the US Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration define the edge as 5 miles.

The company also pointed out the size of the window of the "New Shepard" space capsule, and called Virgin Galactic's "Spaceship 2" a high-altitude plane, which was very different from the "New Shepard".

Bezos congratulated Branson and his crew on their smooth flight on the 11th. "I can't wait to join you!" He said in an Instagram post.

At the press conference, Branson said, "This is really not a competition." He also said, "We wish Jeff all the best."

Blue Origin has not announced the fare, and Virgin Galactic's earlier offer of $25, fare may increase. But after his trip, on the 11th, Branson announced a lucky draw, which will give away two seats for future Virgin Galactic space travel.

But how many people are willing to spend the equivalent of some luxury houses for a few minutes of space travel?

karissa Christensen, founder and CEO of Bryce Space and Technology, an aerospace consulting company, thinks there will be many. She said in an email: "According to the previous ticket sales, surveys and interviews, according to the current price, we see a strong demand signal. There will be hundreds of passengers every year. If the price is greatly reduced, there may be thousands of passengers."

Anderson of Space Adventures is not so sure.

Twenty years ago, his company did sell the suborbital flight experience, including a plane ticket for Fink, who was called Wally. "Wally Fink was one of our first clients." Anderson said. "That should have been as early as 1998." The fare at that time was $98,.

At one time, about 2 people signed up to participate, but no suborbital rocket company could provide their promised spacecraft for flight. The space exploration company returned the money to Fink and others.

Now, this unproven suborbital market has become a battlefield for billionaires Branson and Bezos.

If anyone can make money from it and make the suborbital market work, it is Branson and Bezos, because they have financial resources and prestige.