Qilu Evening News Qilu one-point reporter Wang Xiaoying Intern Bit Zhuoqun compiled
On July 11, Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, will travel to space in his own rocket-powered aircraft. The news was suddenly announced by Virgin Galactic on July 1, nine days earlier than amazon founder Bezos's july 20 space trip. The "space game competition" previously speculated by the outside world has become more and more smokey. If done, Branson would be the first person in the world to fly into space on his own company's vehicle. The "heavenly" business figure before the world's richest man, Bezos, has always been synonymous with his passion for adventure and exploration.
Suddenly decided to "catch up"
There are only three who have the strength to become the first person to fly in space on their own aircraft: Bezos, founder of Amazon in the United States, Musk, founder of Space Exploration Technology in the United States, and Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic in the United Kingdom. The trio dabbled in multiple fields, owning more than one company and one industry, and the "most varied" of them was Branson.
In 2000, Bezos founded Blue Origin; in 2002, Musk's Space Exploration Technologies was founded. Branson also caught up with the boom, founding Virgin Galactic in September 2004, when private space companies and commercial space tourism were in the ascendant. However, Virgin Galactic sends people into space differently from the other two, Bezos and Musk's companies are launched on the ground with rockets, and Virgin Galactic uses a carrier aircraft to send the spacecraft to an altitude of 13.4 kilometers, where the spacecraft disengages from the carrier aircraft, glides for a few seconds and ignites the engine to accelerate, turns off the engine after a few minutes, climbs to the highest point about 88 kilometers above the ground with the help of inertia, and finally slowly turns, glides down, and finally lands on the runway.
Originally, Virgin Galactic's progress in sending tourists to space was last. Although the company has already sold 600 space travel "tickets," When Bezos announced that it was about to go into space last month, Virgin Galactic's launch was scheduled for next year, so Branson's decision on July 1 was unexpected.
According to Virgin Galactic's plan, they should have three more test flights before receiving customers, and Branson was supposed to participate in the second test flight, but now he has greatly advanced the trip. Branson said on June 30 that it was important for his clients to see him sit on it before boarding Virgin Galactic's spacecraft.
Virgin Galactic has been selling space tour tickets back in 2018, with prices ranging from $200,000 to $250,000, and ticket buyers include Hollywood movie star Leonardo DiCaprio, Canadian singer Justin Bieber, and even the late physicist Stephen Hawking. Interestingly, the other day Bezos announced that wally Fink, an 82-year-old former American female pilot, will go into space with him, and Fink bought a "ticket" for a space tour to Virgin Galactic as early as 2010.
"Criminal or rich"
Being one of the first passengers to fly on a Virgin Galactic spacecraft is a risk for Branson, who will turn 71 on July 18. But if you look at his resume over the years, you'll see that Branson has always been a guy who likes to "toss and turn."
Today, the U.S. is a leader in private space exploration, with Musk, 50, and Bezos, 57, both American, but Branson, a veteran British entrepreneur who founded Virgin Group in his 20s, now has more than 400 subsidiaries across multiple sectors.
Branson was born in London in 1950 to a lawyer father and a mother who worked as a ballet dancer and flight attendant. Branson suffered from dyslexia (also known as dyslexia), poor academic performance, and dropped out of school at the age of 15. It is said that on his last day at school, the principal gave him a parting message: "You will either become a criminal or a rich man in the future." Later, Branson became the second type of person in the headmaster's prophecy.
Branson with his mother
Although he couldn't study, Branson had a talent for business since he was a child, and he wanted to become an entrepreneur, and his parents were very supportive. Branson's mother, who also had business experience, once said of her son Branson: "He was born to meet the challenge, and even if he fails, he loves the challenge." In the end, though, he always succeeded. ”。
Branson started his own business as a teenager, selling Christmas trees and budgeons, but failing. At the age of 16, he founded a magazine called Student. The first copy of "The Student" was released in 1968, but it did not make much money. Later, magazine sales fell, Branson wanted to open a record mailing company, but in the end it did not open, had to open a record store in London, he also because of the import of products caused a lawsuit was fined, his parents mortgaged the house to help him pay the money.
Despite hitting a wall when you first started, Branson said, "If you don't start a business out of frustration, it doesn't make any sense." In 1972, he used the money he earned from opening a record store to start a Virgin Records company, and an employee came up with the name "Virgin", which means "novice", meaning that they are all novices in the business world.
This time Branson finally succeeded. Virgin Records signed a number of well-known singers, the most famous of which was the Rolling Stones. By 1979, his net worth had reached around £5 million, and a year later the company went global.
Branson in his youth
But Branson didn't stop "tossing." In the 1980s, branson had the idea of starting an airline after a planned flight to Puerto Rico was cancelled. Virgin Atlantic was founded in 1984 with only one aircraft under its umbrella. In addition, during the same period, Branson also founded a freight company and a travel company.
Despite not being favored by peers and fiercely competitive in the aviation industry, Branson's airlines have won a place. To fund the airline, Branson sold Virgin Records, then the world's fourth-largest record label, for £500 million in 1992. Branson said he cried the day the deal was completed, and in his mind, Virgin Records was the starting point of the "Virgin Empire." However, it proved to be a wise decision, and now that the record industry is gone, Virgin Atlantic has since become the UK's second-largest airline.
In addition to the record, aviation, freight, tourism and other industries, Branson has also extended his hand to almost all walks of life: Virgin Group has virgin media, Virgin Animation, Virgin mobile phones, Virgin Coke, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Hypermarket. Many times, Branson gets involved in certain industries because of his dissatisfaction with certain industries, selling more like a spirit of courage to challenge. In the 1990s, Virgin was one of the largest privately held companies in the UK, with more than 100 companies under its umbrella.
In 1999, in recognition of Branson's contributions to Britain, the Queen of England also crowned him "Sir". According to Forbes rankings, Branson is currently worth $5.6 billion. Bloomberg estimates that Virgin's annual revenues total about $22 billion.
This space trip is adventurous enough
Compared to musk and Bezos's business elite image, Branson is more of a hippie-style entrepreneur who can do anything out of the ordinary. In order to advertise the company, he dressed as a woman in a wedding dress, dressed as a flight attendant, drove a tank into New York's Times Square, starred naked in advertising shooting, and also appeared in many film and television works, and guest starred in the American drama "Friends".
Branson is more keen to try out various challenges, setting a lot of records for adventure. In 1986, he crossed the Atlantic on the Virgin Atlantic Challenger II yacht, breaking the record for the fastest transatlantic crossing. A year later, he crossed the Atlantic in a Virgin Atlantic Flying hot air balloon, becoming one of the first to cross the Atlantic in a hot air balloon. In 1991, he became one of the first to cross the Pacific In a hot air balloon, flying a hot air balloon from Japan over the Pacific To northern Canada, reaching a distance of 6,700 kilometers. He also crossed the English Channel in amphibious vehicles and flew over the channel in a kitesurfing fashion. His love of hot air balloons led the British to circulate the saying: "One day the hot air balloon will kill Branson." ”
Such a person is certainly not afraid of risks, and in his autobiography, Branson has taken stock of his moments in distress 76 times, 12 of which he escaped death, including the shipwreck he and his first wife encountered during their honeymoon, the sudden fire in 1991 while sailing in a hot air balloon, and the near-fall off a cliff on a bicycle in 2016. Another of his autobiographies is simply titled To All the Crazy Guys.
So it's not surprising that Branson has stepped into the private space sector. In 2009, Virgin Group said it had invested about $100 million in Virgin Galactic. But his first failure was failure: In 2014, Virgin Galactic's Spaceship 2 crashed after launch, killing and injuring two pilots. It was undoubtedly a major setback, but Branson was adamant: "There will be no stopping developing commercial space travel at this point." Space dreams never die. ”
After several years of hard work, in December 2018, Spaceship 2 first touched the earth's suborbital orbit, and Branson proudly said at the scene at the time: "Today we prove that Virgin Galactic can open up space and change the world forever." In February 2019, Spaceship 2 flew three crew members into Earth's suborbital orbit and successfully returned. But last December, the spacecraft's third manned test flight ended in failure due to a technical failure.
In May, Virgin Galactic once again had good news, with their "Unity" spacecraft successfully flying manned, reaching a height of about 88 kilometers above the ground at its highest point and finally landing on the runway of the US space launch site. Branson watched the test flights live, and Virgin Galactic CEO Kohlgradzil said at the time that the company would have at least two more test flights before the official launch of the space tour, and Branson himself planned to participate in the follow-up test flights.
Now it seems that Branson, who has been adventurous all his life, is going to take risks again this time. After announcing Branson's launch into space, Virgin Galactic shares rose more than 25 percent at one point. This is also Virgin Galactic's fourth space trip, and they may not be 100% sure of success. Branson said: "I've always been a dreamer. My mother taught me never to give up and to pursue the starry sky. On July 11, it's time to make your dreams a reality aboard Virgin Galactic's next launch. "I hope his dream will become a reality on that day."
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