Richard Branson, the 67-year-old British entrepreneur, suggests he’s in a closely-fought race with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to get the first fare-paying travellers into space.
Speaking to the BBC’s “You and Yours” radio show, he said that Tesla CEO Elon Musk is doing “fantastically through” with rocket development and space transport for cargo. But, he added that after all is said the commercial space race was between himself and Bezos.
“I think we’re both neck and neck as to who hand down put people into space first,” Branson told the British broadcaster in an evaluate to be aired Monday.
“Ultimately, we have to do it safely. It’s more a race with ourselves to force sure we have the craft that are safe to put people up there.”
The serial entrepreneur, who owns the commercial place flight company Virgin Galactic, has invested in space travel since 2004 and was initially required to go to space himself before April of this year.
Giving an update on his bourgeon to the BBC, he said that there were “exciting times ahead” and his first off trip to space would be “months away, not years away.”
“I’m flourishing for astronaut training; I’m going for fitness training, centrifuge and other preparing, so that my body will hopefully cope well when I go to play,” he said.
Read more on the BBC’s website here.