Are We Seeing a New Space Race That is Now Done Between Billionaires?

Between the years 1947 and 1991 the world was facing the cold war, marked by geopolitical tensions between the United States and the former Soviet Union. And one of the most defining moments of this whole war was the space race. There was an intense space exploration between the two world powers.

And it was exactly in this period, on July 20, 1969, that Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon. On an Apollo 11 mission, which took a crew of three astronauts, they made history by landing on and exploring the moon for the first time.

Last Sunday, July 11, 2021, almost 52 years after the Apollo 11 landing, Richard Branson, the famous billionaire founder of the Virgin Group, made a flight in his own company's Virgin Galatic spacecraft, becoming the first businessman to fly in space spacecraft developed for commercial purposes.

The mission, called Unity 22, took off at 12:25 a.m. in the state of New Mexico and landed at 12:41 a.m. at the same place of take-off. At Spaceport America, the first spaceport was designed for commercial purposes. And of course, also built by the entrepreneur himself.

In addition to Richard Branson himself, the project was manned by two pilots and three other Virgin Galatic employees. Not being used a spacecraft that goes beyond orbit, but rather a suborbital flight.

What is a Suborbital Flight?

A suborbital flight is a flight that aircraft that manages to pass the boundaries of what has been determined in space, which is approximately 89 kilometers, however, they do not achieve the speed necessary to stay in orbit, so they return to earth.

The satellites and spacecraft on the moon work differently, they are in space but they have a velocity required to enter orbit.

The purpose of the flight of the Unity 22 mission was to test and experience what will be the experience of its future customers, since Virgin Galatic will begin to make space tourism from 2022 and that more than 600 tickets have already been sold. Remember that tickets range from $200K to $250K.

Has the era of space tourism arrived?

This is where we begin to emphasize this space race because, in addition to this successful inauguration of the Unity 22 mission, the issue of space tourism is provoking the most prominent billionaires in the business world.

Jef Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon on July 5 this year to devote himself 100% to this new initiative of his. And who will crew the spaceship will be Bezos himself.

Bezos' trip will take place on July 20, and besides the trip being crewed by him, it will also have the presence of his brother Mark Bezos, the aviator Wally Funk, the oldest person to go into space, and an anonymous person who sold the spot in an auction for $28 million. He intends to reach the 100-kilometer altitude milestone by crossing the Kármán Line, the line that owes the terrestrial space with the outer atmosphere. The journey will be broadcast live.

This new space race is bringing together more and more multimillionaires to try to commercialize space tourism in the coming years. And Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson are already leading this race towards space tourism.

"They all talk about space travel, to the moon, and even to Mars."

SpaceX, Elon Musk's company has also already announced that by the end of this year, they want to take the first tourists into space. But unlike his competitors, he will not go along on this mission, but rather some American residents who apply on the website will be selected. But Elon Musk has already gone a bit further by saying that he wants to live on Mars. As per the words that came out of his mouth, "I want to die on Mars, but not in an accident."

The new space race is already a reality and there is no denying it.

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