Sir Richard Branson (FILE PHOTO - REUTERS/Kelsey BrunnerRichard Branson, a billionaire entrepreneur, will fly to the edge on Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc’s test flight on July 11. Branson's space tourism company said Thursday that Branson beat Jeff Bezos by a mile.Branson's successful flight aboard Virgin Spaceplane VSS Unity would be a significant milestone in the race to herald a new era in private commercial space travel.This would also allow Branson to travel beyond Earth's atmosphere before Bezos, who founded rival space tourism venture Blue Origin.Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com Inc., is scheduled to fly to space with Mark, his brother and trailblazing female pilot Wally Funk, along with a still unidentified person who paid $28 million for the suborbital joyride.Reuters reported last month, that Branson was planning a show-stealing mission days before Bezos' planned trip.Elon Musk, SpaceX Chief Executive, is part of the race. He is optimistic that space travel will become mainstream once the technology is developed and costs drop. This could fuel what UBS estimates could be an annual $3 billion tourism market by 2030. Musk has yet to set a date for his first space flight.Branson stated that Virgin Galactic is at the forefront of a new commercial aerospace industry. This industry will open space for humankind and make the world a better place.Virgin announced that Branson's July 11 mission would be VSS Unity's twenty-second flight test and the company’s fourth crewed spaceflight.It will also be the first aircraft to have a crew of four, including Branson, and two pilots.Virgin stated that Virgin plans to conduct two additional test flights before it can begin commercial service in 2022.
