Space & Astronomy

Virgin Galactic to fly to space 'within weeks'

By T.K. Randall
October 9, 2018

Image: White Knight Two and SpaceShipTwo
Credit: Jeff Foust / CC BY 2.0 (adapted) It's been a bumpy few years for Virgin Galactic, especially with the loss of its original SpaceShipTwo in October 2014 - an accident that not only claimed the life of a pilot, but also cast doubt on whether the company's lofty goal of launching tourists in to space would ever happen at all.

Now though, following the success of SpaceShipTwo's successor 'VSS Unity', things are looking up.

During a recent interview with CNBC, Branson stated that the company was "more than tantalisingly close" to its first flight in to space and that he is expecting this to happen "within weeks, not months."He also added that he was hoping to be a passenger himself "within months, not years".

Virgin Galactic is not the only company aiming to launch passengers in to space in the near future - Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is also hoping to do something similar with his firm Blue Origin.

With Elon Musk's SpaceX also planning to offer trips to paying passengers, it is looking as though there could be some stiff competition in the space tourism sector within the not-too-distant future.

Source: The Guardian

Tags: Virgin Galactic, SpaceShipTwo