Richard Branson says he’s 6 months from going to space — but Mars belongs to Elon Musk
by Tom Turula
Richard Branson’s private space program Virgin Galactic has long promised to democratize space travel.
After thirteen years of development and setbacks — including a fatal crash, technical difficulties and frequent delays — Richard Branson’s private space program, Virgin Galactic, is soon ready for live action, at least according to Branson himself.
“We are hopefully about three months before we are in space, maybe six months before I’m in space,” the founder of Virgin Galactic, which is part of Virgin Group, told an audience at Nordic Business Forum in Helsinki, Finland last week.
When he received an audience question about who will reach Mars first, he or Elon Musk, Branson made clear he is not as keen on the red star as SpaceX and Tesla’s founder.
“I’m not as passionate about Mars as Elon is. My love for space is about how much it can do for people back here on earth, and that’s what Virgin Galactic is pushing towards.”