'Pinch yourself moment' — Sir Richard Branson rejoices as Virgin Galactic gets step closer to commercial space flights

May 24, 2021

The Virgin Galactic founder says the dream is for children around the world to have the chance to be astronauts.

Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson told Breakfast today his dream is for children around the world to have the chance to be astronauts. 

His company completed an important test flight of its Unity spacecraft yesterday, taking another step towards carrying passengers to the edge of space.

Sir Richard, appearing on Breakfast alongside Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier, said it was a “pinch yourself moment”.

“For me, watching it go into space, I had the biggest grin on my face,” he said.

“It was the culmination of almost a lifetime’s work, a dream, and a dream over the next decades to have many, many, many children watching this programme have the chance to be astronauts when they grow up.

“That’s Michael’s job, to build lots of spaceships so that many people can enjoy what I am going to enjoy very soon.

“Yesterday was a very joyful moment.”

With two further test flights scheduled for this week, Branson was tight-lipped about which one he would go up to space on.

“We have got two more test flights to do and Richard keeps elbowing me: 'Are you ready yet? Are you ready yet?' We’ve got one to do and then we’re looking to bring him on as our chief tester,” Colglazier said.

The Virgin Galactic CEO said he is confident that yesterday’s test flight would see the company fulfil the two outstanding points in its application for a Federal Aviation Authority licence that would allow it to take passengers.

“There are two remaining points on that [FAA] licence to be verified and we think we’ve handed in all the data to do that,” he said.

The 600 paying customers who want to travel into space with Virgin Galactic are doing so for a variety of personal reasons, but they are all after a “transformative” experience, Colglazier said.

SHARE ME

More Stories