Virgin Galactic CEO will be the first to go into space

Virgin galactic announced about the upcoming launch of the VSS Unity spaceplane with company founder Richard Branson on board. The flight is scheduled for July 11, which will allow it to get ahead of another billionaire, Jeff Bezos, who flies into space on the 20th.

For Virgin Galactic, this will be the fourth test flight and the first mission with four tourists on board. Previously, tests were carried out with only two pilots.

Branson will be accompanied by Chief Astronaut Instructor Beth Moses, Lead Operations Engineer Colin Bennett and Vice President of Government Relations Sirish Bundle. VSS Unity will be piloted by Dave McKay and Michael Masucci. The flight will be broadcast live.

Unlike Jeff Bezos's New Shepard ship,

VSS Unity Branson is not tied to the spaceport - the launch is carried out from the air. To do this, he is lifted on a special carrier aircraft White Knight Two, from which he later detaches and, due to the rocket engine, accelerates to a speed three times the speed of sound.

VSS Unity rises to an altitude of more than 80 kilometers - the space from this mark in the United States is officially considered space (in the international classification, space starts at 100 km). At this altitude, under microgravity conditions, the spacecraft is delayed for a few minutes, after which it returns to Earth and lands on the runway like an ordinary plane.

If successful, Virgin plans to launch tourist suborbital flights in 2022.