Within the next fortnight two of the Earth’s wealthiest individuals will attempt to fly into space. Richard Branson’s flight on Sunday aboard a Virgin Galactic Holdings spaceship will be followed by Jeff Bezos’s rocket trip with Blue Origin on July 20. At a time not lacking in awe-inspiring spectator sports, this rivalry remains unique. And it’s not without risk.
It’s taken a couple of decades for both men to realise their ambition of going into space. Blue Origin was founded in 2000 and Virgin Galactic four years later. The critics will harp that they could have devoted their time and money towards more worthy terrestrial endeavours (and paying more tax). Their jostling to be first smacks of billionaire bravado.
Yet the spectacle is unmissable. If seeing Earth’s majestic curvature inspires better care of this planet then I’m all for rich folks taking a joyride into space. (At about $250,000 — about R3,5m — a ticket to fly with Virgin Galactic, this remains a wealthy person’s pastime.)
And if Branson and Bezos’s space odyssey inspires even a handful of children to attempt hard things, so much the better. I just hope nobody feels ill: Branson was planning to live stream his trip.
While there’s symmetry in billionaires blasting off within days of each other, Branson and Bezos have followed quite different technical paths and they’ve done so with markedly different budgets. They can’t even agree on what technically counts as “space”.
Bezos is adamant it begins at the internationally recognised Karman line about 100km above sea level. Blue Origin typically reaches an apogee of about 106km. By contrast, Virgin Galactic flies to an altitude of about 89km, thereby surpassing the approximately 80km mark at which US military pilots are awarded their astronaut wings. For what it’s worth, I don’t think this matters.
Bezos’s New Shepard rocket takes off and lands vertically, whereas Virgin Galactic’s spaceflight system comprises a rocket ship that detaches from a carrier aircraft at about 14,000m, having taken off horizontally, much as a regular plane would. Virgin Galactic has completed three piloted suborbital space flights already. Blue Origin has been to space 15 times, but never with people on board.
Bezos appears to be outspending Branson and no wonder: Bezos’s $214bn fortune (about R3-trillion) makes Branson look like a pauper. The Virgin Group founder is worth “just” $7,9bn (about R112bn).
Bezos has sold about $1bn (about R14,2bn) of Amazon.com stock annually to fund Blue Origin. By comparison, Branson has said he’s invested almost $1bn in Virgin Galactic, which burns through about $250m in cash yearly. He’s sold several chunks of Virgin Galactic stock to help fund his pandemic-hit terrestrial interests. If Sunday’s flight was successful I’m convinced Virgin Galactic will soon raise more capital while the shares are flying high.
Branson has historically made up for what he lacks in financial power with a talent for self-publicity. His last-minute bid to beat Bezos into space is pure Branson, as were indiscreet comments about his wife vowing not to attend his funeral if he doesn’t make it home.
Though he may have to settle for second in space, I still think Bezos has outplayed Branson here. Auctioning off a seat for $28m (about R398m), with the proceeds put towards encouraging children to go into maths and science, was inspired. So was extending an invitation to US aviator Wally Funk to join him on the trip. The 82-year-old pilot will fulfil her lifelong dream of going into space — I’m more excited for her than for Bezos. He even managed to squeeze a few shots of an Amazon-backed Rivian electric pickup truck into a Blue Origin promotional film.
Of course, that’s nothing compared with another billionaire space-nut I’ve not mentioned yet, Elon Musk. His Space Exploration Technologies fired a Tesla Roadster into space in 2018 aboard a Falcon Heavy rocket with a Starman mannequin in the vehicle’s driver seat. Musk’s next ambition is to send humans to Mars. Bezos and Branson will have to up their game.
Chris Bryant is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies. He previously worked for the Financial Times.
— Bloomberg Opinion. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion
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