Virgin Galactic’s initial plans were to start flying customers years ago. Unfortunately, there were several setbacks in the development program. The worst was a 2014 test flight accident that resulted in the co-pilot’s death.
For two decades, Branson and Bezos have both been trying to develop, test, and launch suborbital rockets. Their goal is to take wealthy thrill-seekers on short, 2,300-mile-per-hour rocket rides. Their “space tourism” is planned for a few dozen miles above the Earth in low orbit space.
Billonaire space race:Bezos and Musk
But Bezos and Branson are way behind SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in their efforts. And they are all trying to win the billionaire space race.
In 2013, in a spat over the use of a government launch site Musk told Space News that Bezos company, “Blue Origin has not yet succeeded in creating a reliable suborbital spacecraft, despite spending over 10 years in development.”
“If they do somehow show up in the next five years with a vehicle qualified to Nasa’s human rating standards that can dock with the Space Station, which is what Pad 39A is meant to do, we will gladly accommodate their needs.”
