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Sir Richard Branson has vowed to win Jeff Bezos into space, confirming that he plans to advance his first voyage on the Virgin Galactic spacecraft to July 11th.
After nearly two decades of research and testing by the two men’s companies, Branson’s flight would only take nine days to complete the initial mission of his billionaire opponent.
“I truly believe that space is for all of us,” Branson said in the statement.
“After 17 years of research, engineering and innovation, the new commercial space industry is ready to open the universe to humanity and change the world once and for all.”
Shares of Virgin Galactic jumped 25 percent in overtime trading. The SpaceShipTwo Unity spacecraft has performed three tests in space in the past, the last in May.
He was in business last week he gave permission To put people on board paid for by the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority, giving way to the long-awaited flight to Branson.
Branson’s trip from New Mexico will be one of three more tests he wants to do before he can begin transporting paid passengers in a six-seater.
A Blue Origin spokesman did not respond to requests for comment on Branson’s renewed schedule. His flight is scheduled for July 20, departing from a site west of Texas.
On board will be Bezos and his little brother Mark, who has yet to reveal a third-seat winner, who was sold at auction last month for $ 28 million.
Wally Funk was part of the Mercury 13 program. The project to send women into space was debated in 1961 © Blue Origin Media
Earlier on Thursday, Blue Origin announced that the fourth and final passenger on its flight was an 82-year-old man, Wally Funk, who was the subject of an American plane left in 1961 to send the woman into space.
The scheme of the nickname Mercury 13 was for women to perform the same physiological and psychological examinations as male astronauts.
The program was canceled by the U.S. government because it banned the use of military equipment to train women. Astronaut John Glenn, the third American in space, said the risk of sending women into space could affect “social order.”
Funk, the youngest of the Mercury 13 crew at the age of 22, will now be the oldest person to travel into space. He had previously put up $ 200,000 to buy a ticket to Virgin Galactic’s The Washington Post craft reported on Thursday.
“I didn’t think I would ever get to go up,” he said in a video message posted on social media.
Asked by Bezos what it meant when Blue Origin handicrafts touched the desert of western Texas, Funk replied, “I’ll say, ‘Honey, that’s the best thing that ever happened to me!'”
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