To infinity and beyond – for $450,000, Virgin Galactic says August 6, 2021 Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic will charge passengers $450,000 (£323,500) for a seat on one of its space flights, the firm has announced. The company reopened ticket sales last night, just weeks after its founder successfully completed a flight to the edge of space. At $450,000, tickets are now twice the price paid by 600 [...]
Screenshot: Have Bezos and Branson ushered in a new era of space tourism? July 23, 2021 This week **Media Moment of the Week: Badger, mushroom, snake **Have Bezos and Branson ushered in a space tourism boom? **No more chill for Netflix Media Moment of the Week: Badger, mushroom, snake Want to feel old? The iconic animated badger video (you know the one) is now almost 18 years old. Aside from lamenting [...]
Richard Branson set for space flight aboard Virgin Galactic rocket July 11, 2021 Sir Richard Branson is today due to launch into space aboard a Virgin Galactic rocket plane as he kicks off the race to roll out space tourism. The British billionaire will be one of six people aboard the plane, which will climb more than 50 miles above the New Mexico desert to the edge of [...]
Branson and Bezos space race outruns insurers July 9, 2021 Billionaires Sir Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos are reportedly launching into space without insurance for injury or death. Brokers told the NYT’s Dealbook newsletter neither Branson or Bezos, or their respective companies Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, have purchased liability insurance. This is most likely because there isn’t a fully functioning insurance system for casual [...]
Virgin Galactic granted license to take customers to space June 25, 2021 Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has today received a commercial licence to fly customers into space, the firm announced today. The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has updated its existing licence to fly test missions to include commercial passengers. The decision to grant the company a full license comes after a successful test flight last [...]
Richard Branson to take satellites firm public in $3bn Spac listing June 13, 2021 Sir Richard Branson is in talks to take his satellite launch firm public through a $3bn (£2.1bn) blank-cheque deal. The tycoon is finalising a deal to merge Virgin Orbit with NextGen Acquisition II, a special purpose acquisition company (Spac) set up by former Goldman Sachs banker George Mattson, Sky News reported. Branson’s Virgin Group empire [...]
Ready, set, go: Britain is bound for the next space race May 26, 2021 The UK is bound for a seat in the next space race, the transport secretary has said today, as the government preps for Virgin’s commercial Orbit mission – the UK’s first space-bound flight. The National Space Agency (NSA) confirmed on Monday that spaceflights will soon be a reality as the government has funded spaceports that [...]
Sir Richard Branson set for space as Virgin Galactic signs Rolls-Royce deal August 4, 2020 Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of private spaceflight firm Virgin Galactic, will be one of the first to go into space in one of his company’s rockets, it has been revealed. As long as two test flights scheduled for the autumn are successful, Branson will go into orbit early next year, Virgin Galactic said [...]
Sir Richard Branson to sell $500m of Virgin Galactic stake to prop up other firms May 11, 2020 Sir Richard Branson is set to sell up to $500m shares in space tourism firm Virgin Galactic in order to prop up his other businesses, company filings published today showed. According to a submission to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Branson will sell up to 25m shares in the company. At Friday’s close of [...]
Virgin Galactic shares stall as space tourism firm posts $73m loss February 26, 2020 Richard Branson-founded Virgin Galactic fell to a $73m loss in the final quarter of 2019 as the space tourism firm announced it had received twice as many registrations for its space flight programme. The loss, which has widened compared to the same period last year, meant that Virgin Galactic’s share price, which has risen nearly [...]