The interior cabin of billionaire Richard Branson's space tourism firm Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo is seen in an artist's rendition released July 28, 2020.
Washington, United States - Branson's trip to space hinges on the success of two upcoming test flight programmes.
Published: Wed 5 Aug 2020, 1:44 AM
Billionaire Richard Branson will fly into space on a Virgin Galactic rocketship early next year, the space tourism company he founded said on Monday, adding that it would raise new funds with a share offering.
Also read: Virgin Galactic gives peek at spacecraft cabin
Branson's trip to space hinges on the success of two upcoming test flight programmes, Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc said, with the first powered spaceflight scheduled for this autumn from Spaceport America.
The company competes with billionaire-backed ventures such as Blue Origin that are vying to usher in a new era of space tourism, racing to be the first to offer sub-orbital flights to civilian space travellers.
Virgin Galactic offers zero-gravity experiences to customers with its centrepiece SpaceShipTwo plane and has long-term point-to-point travel plans to quickly transport passengers from city to city at near-space altitudes.
Earlier in June, Virgin Galactic had signed an agreement with Nasa to develop a programme to promote private missions to the International Space Station.
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