[arista]

[Branson has named the date he'll fly to
the edge of space. It will be 11 July,
or very soon after.

He'll be a passenger in the back
of the Unity rocket plane his Virgin Galactic company
has been developing in the US for
the better part of two decades.
The vehicle can climb to an altitude
of 90km (295,000ft), giving those onboard
a few minutes of weightlessness and
a view of the curvature of the Earth.
Richard's intention is to introduce a
commercial spaceflight service.

Some 600 individuals have already
lodged deposits to take the ride.]


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57689855


[If the mission does indeed go ahead on that Sunday,
it would mean Sir Richard stealing a march on
his rival in sub-orbital space tourism, fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos.
The founder of the online retail empire Amazon.com has sunk a fortune
into his hobby of building rockets and has announced
his own trip to the edge of space on 20 July.]