Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic are getting ready for their space flight on July 11. The company is set to win the "first flight" bragging rights in the so-called "Space Race" against Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. Along with it, the Virgin Galactic stock price is also seeing a massive climb.
For his part, Branson is excited to share the milestone. He tweeted a throwback video from 1988, where he answered a question from a curious child asking: "Have you ever thought of going to space, Richard?"
The TikTok version of the post cut to 70-year-old Richard, dressed up in the Virgin Galactic flight suit, as he replied: "I'd love to go into space, I can think of nothing nicer. In fact, I think I'll go Sunday'.
On Sunday, July 11 at 14:00 BST (or 9:00 ET), Branson will travel to space onboard the VSS Unity from Spaceport America in New Mexico.
Richard Branson Space Flight With Virgin Galactic
Daily Mail reported that it took Branson and his company 17 years to finalize the space flight.
Branson will be labeled as Astronaut 001 on the first full-cabin flight of VSS Unity. He will be traveling alonsgide Beth Moses (Virgin Galactic Chief Astronaut), Colin Bennett (Lead Operations Engineer) and Sirisha Bandla (Vice President of Government Affairs), as well as the two pilots David Mackay and Michael Masucci.
VSS Unity will be dubbed "Unity 22" as it is the 22nd total fight test for Virgin Galactic.
The flight on July 11 will be the fourth crewed flight for VSS Unity, with only its second time to include passengers in the cabin. The spacecraft is scheduled to make three more flights to test all aspects of the cabin and passenger space experience.
If all flights are successful, VSS Unity will open up its commercial operations to the general public starting 2022.
Read Also: SpaceX Starlink Satellites Could Make Space Travel Easier! [Test Flight and Mission Details]
Virgin Galactic Stock Price Blasts Off
The Virgin Galactic Holdings SPCE stock exchange also gets its fair share of action. It traded more than 5 percent on Thursday, reversing the downward trend on its market in these last few days.
The Motley Fool reported that "Virgin Galactic shares blasted off on June 25 after the company won approval for passenger space flights." This is an obvious response from investors who see the potential for the company's tourism and marketing.
With Branson's upcoming flight, the price might continue to rise. However, despite reaching 220 percent more sales than their mid-May low, the stock market does not break through its sales in February.
YouTuber OptionGeek warned to be careful when investing in SPCE stock. He predicted that the price would continue to rise in the coming days. However, this steep rise works in both ways. The market could quickly lose sales after the flight date, especially since Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin also have their own flight scheduled in the same month. By then, investors might have a "race to the exit to get out" of the market.
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