Richard Branson's Journey Into Space

We will tell you today about such a future holiday tourism location, that is space, where a new tourist spot can soon be established in the current International Space Station. The British billionaire Richard Branson was travelling to the space by a spaceship called VSS Unity in the night of July 11, while the citizens in India were getting ready to sleep. This spaceship was developed by Richard's own spaceflight company, Virgin Galactic.


Richard Branson and his company made a breakthrough in space travel, with this achievement. On July 20, Jeff Bezos, the wealthiest industrialist and owner of the Amazon will travel to space from his spaceflight company Blue Origin's spacecraft.

Three officials of his company and two pilots accompanied Richard Branson on his flight. Among them was the Indian-born Sirisha Bandla, who is the Vice President of Richard Branson.

Space Travel: The Result Of 17 Year's Hard Work

This space tourism idea was developed by Richard Branson 17 years ago, since then company was working on this project. The first space port in the world was built in New Mexico, America for space tourism and spaceship of Virgin Galactic flew up for space from this port. Like airports for airlines, space ports for rockets are being developed in several nations across the world.

Time Spent By Richard Branson In Space

From launch to landing on Earth, the time duration of this flight was just 90 minutes, whereas the spacecraft VSS Unity was in space only four minutes. This Richard Branson's spacecraft returned to Earth after reaching the edge of space, after being in space for almost 4 minutes.

Who Travelled With Richard Branson Into Space?

The Indian Sirisha Bandla is also included among the 6 individuals who travelled into space from the spaceship of Virgin Galactic. After Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams, Sirisha Bandla is the third woman of Indian origin to travel to space.

34-year-old Sirisha Bangla was born in Andhra Pradesh, India. At the age of four, Sirisha moved to the USA with her family, in the Houston city of USA. Where the space centre of NASA is also located. Sirisha was therefore fascinated in space and rockets while living in this city and she achieved such a high position in the Branson's company. Sirisha is responsible for this company's research operation.

How The Spacecraft Travelled Such A Distance?

The spacecraft was initially transported by a carrier plane to a height of 50,000 feet above the Earth. This spacecraft was afterwards detached from the plane, which brought it to that level and completed the additional voyage by rocket. When this spacecraft's rockets were launched by the pilots, it had three times the speed of sound. Spacecraft structured like a private jet, this spacecraft soared 86 kilometres above the earth at a speed of 3,701 kilometres per hour.

Although it is essential to get out of earth's gravity, a speed of 40 thousand kilometres per hour. But it is not necessary for sub-orbital space missions. The sub-orbital space is termed up to an altitude of 100 km from Earth. The gravitational force of the earth does not entirely end even after reaching this height. However, weighlessness experienced by Astronauts onboard suborbital spacecraft is somewhat similar to astronauts who traveling to the International Space Station.

Space Tourism: The Beginning Of New Space War

As we previously reported, after Richard Branson, the world's richest person, Jeff Bezos, will travel to space aboard his own company's spacecraft on July 20. Furthermore, by the end of this year, Elon Musk, second wealthiest industrialist will also be taking ordinary people into the space. That is, a new battle between the three major businesses of the world on space tourism will begin at the end of this year.

Difference Between SpaceX, Virgin Galactic And Blue Origin's Space Tourism Missions

Now, you know how different these companies space missions are and why do the world's top businessmen wish to privatise space travel now?

Virgin Galactic's Spacecraft For Space Travel

VSS Unity is of the size of a private aeroplane and was launched into space by Richard Branson's company. It can accommodate up to eight people. With the aid of a carrier plane, this spacecraft  flew to a particular height, and it then flew farther with the use of rockets. It may reach a maximum altitude of 80 to 90 kilometres above Earth.

Blue Origin's Spacecraft For Space Travel

While Jeff Bezos company's spacecraft is known as New Shepard. Its shape is comparable to the traditional spacecraft known as capsules. It is propelled by a rocket from earth to space, and the capsule and racket are separated after reaching space. The rocket come back to Earth while the capsule stays for a few minutes. There will be 6 passengers sitting together and there will be no pilot, i.e. the complete autonomous flight. It will reach an altitude of up to 100 km from the ground and will descend again on the earth after a few minutes using the parachute.

SpaceX's Spacecraft For Space Travel

Dragon Capsule is the name of the spacecraft built by Elon Musk's company to send private astronauts to space. In terms of spaceflight, SpaceX has more experience than the other two companies. Astronauts can be send into the International Space Station using SpaceX rockets. Last year, SpaceX used its Falcon 9 rocket to send the Dragon capsule to the International Space Station twice. Both times, NASA's astronauts were onboard, but this time, SpaceX wants to give the world's biggest business leaders, the opportunity to fly to space.

How Much Amount You Would Have To Pay For Space Travel?

Now, let us tell you how much money will be required to space via commercial space companies.

The astronaut would be charged Rs 2 crore by Richard Branson's company. The company now has over 600 customers, including Justin Bieber, the American music sensation, and Leonardo DiCaprio, the Hollywood actor.

A seat in Jeff Bezos's company's spacecraft can be booked by spending one crore and sixty lakh rupees.

The amount Elon Musk's company will charge for the space travel has yet to be disclosed.

On this success, Elon Musk congratulated Richard Branson, andBefore this trip, Jeff Bezos also wished Branson well. But now you will be surprised by what the Jeff Bezos's company did after this flight success.

You've probably seen automobile advertising in the newspaper, and you've probably seen how a business compares its car to another company's car and claims that its vehicle is safer, more advanced, and gets better mileage. Similarly, as soon as the Space Race began, these space companies began touting the benefits of their own spacecraft.

Jeff Bezos Launched Marketing Campaign For Space Tourism

For this, Jeff Bezos's company has launched a marketing campaign, in which it is explained how his company's rockets and spacecrafts are superior to Richard Branson's rockets and spacecrafts by publishing the advertisements.

  • According to the advertisement they explained, Blue Origin's spaceship can travel up to 100 kilometres above the Earth and even higher, whereas Virgin Galactic's spacecraft can only fly up to 80 to 90 kilometres above the Earth.

  • The advertisement further states that Virgin Galactic's spacecraft is little more than a high-altitude jet, but Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft is propelled by a rocket.

  • The VSS Unity spacecraft of Virgin Galactic has extremely small windows, but New Shepard has the biggest windows in its class.

  • VSS Unity lacks an emergency escape mechanism, but New Shepard have emergency escape mechanism.

  • VSS Unity is harmful to the environment, whereas Blue Origin's New Shepard spaceship do not harm our environment.

Disadvantages Of New Space War

However, one downside of this new space competition is that, similar to traffic congestion on the highways, possibly there may be occur traffic jams in space. Perhaps, this is why all of these private companies are planning to develop dedicated space flight routes. Aside from that, there are thousands of satellites are also orbiting in Earth's orbit and space.

More than 11,000 satellites have been launched into orbit, according to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. Only around 7,500 satellites are still operational, while the remainder have either been destroyed by fire or are still revolving in space as trash. Some of these satellite's parts are very huge, and they are still in risk of crashing with the Earth.

Ticket Price For The First Commercial Space Flight

Just few days ago, Jeff Bezos' company Blue Origin held an auction for tickets to the first commercial space flight, which was purchased by an industrialist for Rs 205 crore. The identity of this person has not yet been revealed. On July 20, people who will travel to space with Jeff Bezos, this unknown person, Jeff Bezos's brother Mark, and an 82-year-old lady called Wally Funk will be among them. In the 1960s, Wally Funk was one of 13 women who got training for space flight but unfortunately he was unable to fly to space at the time, but she is successful this time, she will become the world's oldest astronaut.

The Future Challenges For Government Space Agency Like ISRO

With the beginning of the new space race, many person also wonder what is going to happen to public space agencies like ISRO? ISRO is known for launching space missions at a low cost, but government space organisations like ISRO may find it tough to compete in the future days.

An example will help you understand this. Mangalyaan was launched in November 2013 and has travelled 650 million kilometres from Earth to reach the orbit of Mars. This mission cost a total of Rs 450 crore. As a result, it cost Rs 7 per kilometre for Mangalyaan to reach to the into the orbit of Mars. To travel 86 kilometres above the Earth aboard Virgin Galactic's spacecraft, each passenger will have to pay Rs 2 crore. One of its spacecraft can fly with upto 6 passengers. That is, a single mission will cost Rs 12 crore and a kilometre of travel will cost Rs 14 lakh.

However, as the frequency of flights by commercial space companies will increase, the cost will decrease. Dennis Tito, an American industrialist, visited the International Space Station for the first time in 2001. He had paid around Rs 56 crore for this, but now, with the beginning of the new space race, the cost of a ticket has dropped to 1.5 and 2 crore rupees per ticket. Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, estimates that this cost may be cut by up to 95%.

ISRO's Earning Per Annum

ISRO currently launches satellites for governments all around the world using its low-cost rockets, earning arround Rs.300  crores each year. However, due to the entry of private companies into the space industry, competition might be very tough. The global space sector is now valued at Rs 27 lakh crore, but it is estimated to expand upto Rs 78 lakh crore in the next 20 years.

ISRO will also have to make its own preparations and accomplish challenging space missions in such a circumstance. For example, in the next few years, ISRO will have to launch manned missions to the ISS and the Moon. ISRO's technology is believed to be extremely reliable and low-cost, and the global trust in ISRO will increase more quickly when India will complete the challenging missions in space. Furthermore, businessmen in India, lke industrialists in America and Britain, should also consider joining the realm of space, as there is no shortage of capacity in India and India may be the focus of space travel in the future.