The company Virgin Galactic aimed at the market of space tourism services, is getting closer to its cherished goal. In a recent interview with CNBC, the CEO, British billionaire Richard Branson said that Virgin Galactic is “very close to the first sub-orbital flight.” According to Brunson, the market for tourist flights there is a great demand, so he and his company tend to be quick to find a way to satisfy it.
According to Brunson, the first manned suborbital flight of SpaceShipTwo spaceplane, developed by his company, to be held in the coming weeks, and soon he will fly into space.
“We should go into space in the coming weeks, not months. Then I will fly into space in the coming months, not years. And shortly after that we will start to send into space for other people. The next couple of months will be very exciting for us,” commented Branson.
On the question of whether, in his opinion, sufficient demand for orbital or suborbital tourist flights, the head of Virgin Galactic said:
“If now in the room with me were 10 people, eight of them expressed a desire to go into space, provided that it is affordable. I think many would like to become astronauts and fly into space. And we need to build many more ships, so we can meet that demand,” added the businessman.
It was previously reported that the company sold more than 650 tickets. While they have bought a ticket for suborbital flight, there are names of celebrities. Among those who have expressed a desire to go into orbit on this ship was Leonardo Di Caprio, Tom Hanks and Angelina Jolie.
A ticket for a suborbital journey on Board of the spacecraft SpaceShipTwo company Virgin Galactic will cost dearly. Who wants to see the Earth from a height of 100 kilometers will have to pay and your pocket of about $ 250,000. On the question of whether Branson sees the prospects of reducing the cost, he replied that in the “ideal” in the next 10 years I would like to see a reduction in the cost of the tourist suborbital flights to approximately 40-50 thousand dollars per ticket.
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The head of Virgin Galactic in the next few months will fly into space
Nikolai Khizhnyak