British businessman and billionaire Richard Branson tried many things in his life, from taking a motorboat across the Atlantic Record time Trying to travel around the world in a hot air balloon (before Forced landing). But his upcoming feat may be his most compelling so far: going to space-and possibly defeating a billionaire And space startup founder Jeff Bezos (Jeff Bezos) in the process.

This Sunday morning, Branson will join Five others In Virgin Galactic’s first manned space flight.If everything goes according to plan, they will travel More than 50 miles Earth’s surface On the VSS Unity space plane, an aircraft-like aircraft that will be carried by the mothership before reaching NASA consider Become the dividing line between outer space and the earth.The goal is to prove Space tourism It’s really possible, and in This Estimated 90-minute journey, The rider will experience weightlessness and see the magnificent view of the earth.

The company is planning to broadcast the flight live on it website, as well as Twitter, YouTube, with Facebook, Starting at 9 a.m. Eastern Time.

Space tourism has long been Branson’s wish. The British businessman founded Virgin Galactic in 2004 when the private aerospace industry began to become competitive. His ground-based business through Virgin Group included everything from record companies to air travel. In 2000, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (Jeff Bezos) Established Blue Origin, two years later, Elon Musk founded SpaceX. For more than a decade, these private companies have been competing with each other, conducting test flights, and preparing to send humans, including civilians, into space.At the same time, NASA is increasingly turning to these private space companies to carry out their own work, including helping Delivery payload, Training astronauts, Even Return to the moon.

The university’s aviation historian Janet Bednarek said: “If you want people to pay for it, but if the probability of their death is relatively high, most people will not. This pays the price.” Dayton told Recode. “I think this is part of the reason Branson participated in this flight. It shows that it is safe now.”

If Branson successfully launches on Sunday, it will be a new milestone for Virgin Galactic and will bring mankind closer to the era of commercial space tourism.

Although SpaceX and Blue Origin have a range of other goals, including Delivery payload To the International Space Station, Virgin Galactic stands out for its long-term focus on space tourism: the idea that people are willing to pay a lot of money for the opportunity to travel to space. Branson said: “We hope to create thousands of astronauts in the next few years, let them dream of seeing the magnificent beauty of our planet, all the glorious stars, and an amazing sense of weightlessness from a high altitude.” Announce back In 2004.

At that time, Branson Expected The company can send a five-person space trip into space for only $200,000, and can send thousands of astronauts into space in the next few years. Virgin Galactic becomes the first space tourism in 2019 Companies ListedIn June, the company received its first operator license issued by the Federal Aviation Administration, which means it now has the right to Flying paying customers. Branson also launched Virgin Orbit, a parallel company that launched Satellite, SpaceX Also competing.

Sunday’s launch means Branson and Virgin Galactic are ahead of Bezos and Musk in the private space race.Although Branson has adhere to He didn’t want to defeat Bezos and Blue Origin to go to space first. He did announce his July 11th flight a few hours later by the Amazon CEO Said he will take off July 20. Bezos seems to be at least a little angry at Branson changing his release date: Friday, Blue Origin Being suspected Will the Virgin Galactic flight on Sunday Really Into space, because the flight does not technically cross the internationally recognized border, the Carmen line, approximately 12 miles higher Better than the border recognized by NASA.

Virgin Galactic’s commercial space tourism journey has encountered serious setbacks. In 2014, the company’s spacecraft II made a test flight Crash, Resulting in the death of one co-pilot and the other severely injured. (The National Transportation Safety Board later attributed the accident to the co-pilot’s error and “failure to consider and prevent the possibility that a single human error could lead to a catastrophic hazard.”) Virgin Group is a broader group of companies that includes Airline Virgin Atlantic and gym Virgin Active, The financial challenges brought about by the pandemic must also be overcome.

Space flight is also facing profit problems. “Only a few people can really afford to do this,” Bednarek told Recode. “If you want to expand, you must also figure out how to reduce costs, which is difficult to do.”

Earlier this month, Branson Say He believes that at least 20 different companies have enough demand for space travel to compete in the industry.So far, the company says At least 600 people Has booked a future Virgin Galactic flight, The fare is estimated to be as high as US$250,000Last year, Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier stated that he believes that the company can eventually bring in $1 billion in revenue and conduct regular space flights, although he pointed out that the company needs more Space plane and mothership Reach that goal.

Even if we are still a long way from extensive space tourism, Branson will soon have a company: In just a few days, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Plan to go to space About 11 minutes In the BlueOrigin rocket, along with other riders, including his Mark Bezos Bid with an unnamed auction winner 28 million USD Seats on the flight.

At the same time, SpaceX plans to launch its first “civilianFlights later this year. On board will be the pilot and billionaire technology entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, who founded the payment processing company Shift4Payments.

Only a few hundred people have been to space, but this number seems to be increasing rapidly.