Richard Branson Will Try to Beat Jeff Bezos to Space With July 11 Flight

The Virgin Galactic founder hopes to edge out, by nine days, Blue Origin’s first flight with a crew aboard.

Seeking to upstage Jeff Bezos as the first rocket company owner to go to space, Richard Branson, the British billionaire who founded a galaxy of Virgin companies, announced on Thursday night that he would be a member of the crew on the next test flight of the Virgin Galactic space plane. That flight is scheduled to take off on July 11 from Spaceport America in New Mexico. “The team was ready, so they asked Richard if he was ready to go,” said Aleanna Crane, vice president of communications for Virgin Galactic. “It’s a big day. It’s a very exciting day.”