Billionaire space race: Branson aims to make trip ahead of Bezos

Branson’s July 11 mission will be the 22nd flight test for VSS Unity, and the company’s fourth crewed spaceflight.

Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson will travel to the edge of space on Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc’s test flight on July 11, Branson’s space tourism firm said on Thursday, beating out fellow billionaire and aspiring astronaut Jeff Bezos. A successful flight by Branson on board Virgin’s VSS Unity spaceplane would mark a key milestone in a race to usher in a new era of private commercial space travel. It would also mean that Branson would travel beyond Earth’s atmosphere ahead of Bezos, the founder of rival space tourism venture Blue Origin.