Branson Plans First Space Trip Days Before Bezos Blasts Off
- Virgin Galactic’s billionaire founder scheduled to fly July 11
- Three other company employees will join him on test flight
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Richard Branson plans to fly to space on July 11, days before a similar journey by fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos. The shares of Branson’s Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. surged.
The VSS Unity spacecraft will also carry three Virgin Galactic employees and two pilots from the launch site in New Mexico, according to a company statement Thursday. Bezos is planning a trip to space July 20 from nearby West Texas aboard a rocket made by Blue Origin, the Amazon.com Inc. founder’s space company.