Richard Branson Reflects on Being in Space, What it Means for Virgin Galactic’s Future

Virgin Galactic completed a successful test flight to space last weekend, signaling a massive jump in the space tourism market. On board was none other than Virgin Founder Sir Richard Branson himself. Tune in below to see his thoughts on being a passenger on the vessel and what it means for the future of the company and space travel as a whole.

Branson: I’d been practicing some words to say to kids down on Earth for some time, and once I’m on it, once I’d done those words, just being able to unbuckle and then just take off and look out these massive windows, then the spaceship was upside down and taken the Earth from space. It was that something I’ve dreamt of since I was a kid. And it was completely and utterly awesome. And I Yeah. You know, one of those dreams come true. And I still think that I’m going to wake up any minute. And it’s all a dream.

Host: You did touch back down. You said that the feeling of weightlessness is indescribable, but will you at least have an attempt for me?

Branson: Well, it’s just the most. And it is. It’s just I mean, it wasn’t just the sort of floating, but then looking at the other three beneath me, because you just floating as well. And then looking out through these gigantic windows back at this stunningly beautiful Earth below, you know, I mean, like pristine, pristine sky, the strength of the blues and the Blacks. And and I think we were in space. And I’ve know, I’ve never know, I’ve always sort of pictured what it was going to be like. I mean, you know, like the ride up there, the ride back. And I never realized that the whole experience is going to be so vivid.

Host: What does today symbolize for the company, and also for those children that were present earlier?

Branson: For the children we’ve just got to get building as many spaceships as we can as fast as we can. So that one that one day those kids will have the chance to have a similar experience or what I had and that we will do. We also launched this giant global raffle today. So that, you know, two kids, you know, just $10 for a pair of tickets. If they could win the raffle, they can go out. But that money will hopefully enable many, many people to be able to go up who could never have dreamt of going to space.

*Bloomberg contributed to this content

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