Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

Elon Musk to fly to the edge of space with Virgin Galactic

By
Add as a preferred source on Google

Elon Musk has booked a seat with Virgin Galactic for a ride to the edge of space.

The revelation came via the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, July 11, the day that Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson participated in the company’s first fully crewed spaceflight ahead of the launch of a commercial space tourism service.

Recommended Videos

It’s not clear when Musk will step aboard the VSS Unity spaceplane for the rocket-powered experience, though Virgin Galactic says it’s hoping to launch its space tourism service in 2022 following two more test flights this year.

Tickets for the once-in-a-lifetime experience cost $250,000, with Virgin Galactic having so far sold around 600 seats after launching sales several years ago.

According to Branson, the two billionaire entrepreneurs are actually good buddies, evidenced in part by a photo tweeted by the Virgin Galactic founder on Sunday, shortly before he headed skyward aboard Unity.

Musk also has plans to launch a space tourism service, though SpaceX’s will be more complex, offering several days in orbit aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted into space by a two-stage rocket, while Virgin Galactic’s flight lasts just 15 minutes and offers passengers only a few minutes of weightlessness, as well as stunning views of Earth.

While it’s perfectly possible Musk could take a ride to space on one of his own rockets, the training process for Virgin Galactic’s flight is much shorter and so would take less time out of his busy schedule overseeing not only SpaceX, but also electric-car company Tesla, which he also leads. In addition, SpaceX doesn’t yet have a solid schedule for launching civilian-only space trips, though it is planning to conduct its first one in September using a specially designed Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Richard Branson turned Sunday’s Virgin Galactic test flight into a big marketing event for the company’s upcoming space tourism service, streaming the mission live as well as inviting a number of famous people — Musk among them — to the launch site in New Mexico. The day also featured a performance by Grammy-winning artist Khalid and a “welcome home” ceremony for the Unity crew.

Virgin Galactic’s first fully crewed flight came just ahead of another one next week that will see Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ride to the edge of space aboard a New Shepard rocket built by another of his companies, Blue Origin. The flight will be the first crewed outing conducted by Blue Origin and could pave the way for a space tourism service similar to the one offered by Virgin Galactic, though the two transportation systems differ greatly.

While some folks see the billionaires’ space race as a vulgar pursuit and a waste of huge amounts of money, others are enjoying the idea of making space more accessible, even if, for now at least, the cost of tickets means only the super-rich will get to enjoy the space experience.

Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Topics
NASA is investing $590 million in private contractors to build humanity’s first Moon outpost
NASA is counting on private companies to land its Moon Base dream.
Artist impression of a Moon Base concept, with solar arrays for energy generation, greenhouses for food production, and habitats shielded with regolith.

Building a permanent base on the Moon sounds like science fiction, but NASA is making it feel a lot more real. The agency just handed $590 million in contracts to three private companies for four uncrewed lunar lander missions launching in late 2028.

These missions are part of Phase 1 of NASA's broader $30 billion Moon Base program, which needs to deliver landers, rovers, and scientific cargo up there before astronauts eventually move in. These efforts are closely tied NASA's Artemis program, which sent humans on a lunar flyby in April for the first time since the Apollo era.

Read more
Getting to Mars may require a pit stop in orbit, and NASA just tested the nozzle to make that happen
A gas pump nozzle for spacecraft sounds simple. It is not, and that's what makes this test worth paying attention to.
Architecture, Building, Factory

Getting a spacecraft to Mars or beyond requires an enormous amount of fuel, most of which has to be hauled from Earth, adding to the overall cost and weight of the spacecraft. NASA has been working on a different approach, one that could be more efficient and effective.

It wants to refuel a spacecraft in orbit before heading out for the mission. What’s even more interesting is that the space agency just finished testing a component that could make that possible: a cryocoupler.

Read more
Elon Musk’ Starlink could soon offer mobile services as a US carrier
Showcase of T-Mobile Starlink service on an iPhone.

Elon Musk’s Starlink has already changed how millions of people access the internet, especially in places where traditional broadband struggles to reach. Now, the satellite internet service could be preparing for an even bigger leap — becoming your mobile carrier.

According to a Financial Times report, SpaceX has told investors it’s considering launching a retail Starlink mobile service in the US. Instead of simply partnering with wireless carriers, the company could begin selling mobile plans directly to consumers, putting it in direct competition with Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.

Read more