Publisher's Synopsis
Richard Branson is a British businessman. Has beaten out competitors to become the first billionaire to depart the planet in a rocket ship.
Sir Richard Branson hopped into his Virgin Galactic passenger rocket plane and flew more than 50 miles over the New Mexico desert, becoming the first billionaire to leave the planet in a rocket ship.
Branson, who is one of six Virgin Galactic Holding Inc employees on board, has hailed the flight as a forerunner to a new era of space travel, with the company he founded set to begin operations in 2022.
The billionaire posed for photos with the five passengers before to the excursion, which he described as his "Star Trek second" after being inspired by the franchise as a child, and even designed their uniforms to look like the ones seen in the film.
After 77-year-old John Glenn in 1998, he will be the second-oldest person to travel to space.
'I feel it is one of many reasons that people need to become astronauts, ' the billionaire entrepreneur told the globe, adding that the view alone will be well worth the billion kilos he has spent on the SPACE PROJECT. They need to take another look at this beautiful planet.
'Every astronaut I've met has returned determined that the rest of their lives would be spent working harder to protect the planet we live on.'
Sir Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos are all members of the 'NewArea' group.
The group has all indicated that they were inspired by the first moon landing in 1969, when the United States defeated the Soviet Union in the space race, and have previously expressed how important it would be for each to win the 'new space race.'
Richard Branson made history by becoming the first billionaire competitor to travel to space.
