British billionaire Richard Branson landed safely Sunday July 11 in New Mexico after his flight into space.
“
A once-in-a-lifetime experience,
” commented Richard Branson, still in the space plane.
Read also: Richard Branson makes his first space flight with Virgin Galactic
The VSS Unity spacecraft, which also carried two pilots and three other passengers, touched down on a runway at Spaceport America at approximately 10:40 a.m. local time (6:40 p.m. French time). He is the first billionaire to have made the trip in a device developed by a company he himself founded, beating Jeff Bezos who is due to rob him on July 20. Billionaires had already traveled to space in the 2000s, but on Russian rockets. Another rival billionaire, SpaceX boss Elon Musk, was on hand Sunday to attend the event.
A carrier plane took off at around 8:40 a.m. local time (4:40 p.m. in France) from Spaceport America base in the US state of New Mexico.
He gained altitude for about fifty minutes before jettisoning the spacecraft hanging beneath him, which then ignited its own engine to reach the void of space.
To read also: SpaceX, Starlink, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic ... Towards the privatization of space?
At some 15 kilometers high, it was dropped to begin a supersonic ascent, and exceed 80 km altitude, the height set in the United States for the frontier of space.
Once the engine was off, the passengers were able to detach themselves from their seats to float for a few minutes in zero gravity, and admire the curvature of the Earth from one of the cabin's 12 portholes.
After a peak at about 90 km altitude, the spacecraft began to descend while hovering, to finally land.
See also -
The images of the takeoff to space of the Virgin Galactic spacecraft with Richard Branson on board
Richard Bronson, the billionaire who cultivates his hothead image
The eccentric 70-year-old billionaire, founder of the Virgin group (whose activities range from an airline to fitness), has long cultivated his hothead image.
“
When I was a kid, I wanted to go to space.
As it did not seem likely for my generation, I registered the name of Virgin Galactic, with the idea of creating a company which could make it possible
”, wrote Richard Branson a few days before the departure.
Read also: Space tourism: dangerous and difficult to master technologies
His goal, which almost came to an end in 2014: the in-flight accident of a Virgin Galactic spacecraft had caused the death of a pilot, considerably delaying the program.
Since then, VSS Unity has already reached three times the space, including with a passenger in 2019.
This Sunday, the event takes place at Spaceport America, a space base built in the desert of New Mexico for Virgin Galactic, but whose funding is largely supported by this state in the southwest of the United States.
The base includes a runway more than 3.6 km long and a building with spaces dedicated to flight operations, as well as to the reception of future customers.
Image broadcast of Richard Bronson's space flight.
Virgin galactic
Regular flights in 2022?
After this successful test, Virgin Galactic plans two new test flights, then the start of regular commercial operations for early 2022. And ultimately aims to conduct 400 flights per year from Spaceport America.
Read also: Space tourism very close to becoming a reality
Some 600 tickets have already been sold to people from 60 different countries - including Hollywood celebrities - for a price of between $ 200,000 and $ 250,000.
Even if Richard Branson keeps repeating that according to him, “
space belongs to all of us
”, the adventure therefore remains within the reach of only the privileged.
“
On my return (from space), I will announce something very exciting to allow more people to become astronauts,
” he had promised.
The competition in the space tourism sector, whose imminent advent has been announced for years, has accelerated tremendously this month: the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, is also due to fly on the 20th. July, with his own rocket, named New Shepard and developed by his company Blue Origin.
The latter published a table this week extolling its merits over those of Virgin Galactic.
Jeff Bezos nevertheless wished on Instagram "
a successful flight
" to Richard Branson.