Billionaire Richard Branson says he'll fly into space in July

WASHINGTON: British billionaire Richard Branson plans to travel in space here four or five months aboard his own Virgin Galactic spacecraft, he told AFP on Thursday 7 February. .

"My wish is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, that's what we're working on," said Virgin group president on the sidelines of an event to pay tribute to Virgin Galactic at the Air and Space Museum in Washington.

The American Apollo 11 mission landed on the moon on July 20, 1969.

Virgin Galactic is one of two companies, with Blue Origin, sending pbadengers in space – barely, and for just a few minutes.

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Companies want to send hundreds or even thousands of people on these short "suborbital" flights, which means they would not be high enough to circle the Earth.

These missions would be shorter and more affordable than the planned SpaceX project to send a Japanese billionaire to the moon by 2023 at the earliest.

Virgin Galactic flew for the first time in December 80 km above the earth, which the United States considers as the edge of space (the international consensus is 100 km).

The spacecraft Virgin Galactic, called SpaceShipTwo, is controlled by two pilots.

To take off, he is dropped by a carrier plane like a bomb, then starts his own engine to fly right into the sky, to finally climb high enough to see the curvature of the earth.

The craft floats and descends naturally, returning to its original starting point, Mojave Air and Space Port in California.

He will be able to carry six pbadengers with his two pilots.

Branson has already announced the dates of this first space trip, even if they have always come and gone without the trip taking place.

But this time, the businessman says that the preparations are in the final stage.

"In July, we should have done enough tests," he said.

But he does not want to make promises that he can not keep: "I have to wait for our team to say that they are 100% happy, I do not want to push them," he said. I will be ready for customers by the end of the year.

He told AFP that Virgin Galactic cost him $ 35 million a month; Previously, he had declared having invested more than a billion dollars in this business since the 2000s.

According to Branson, the next SpaceShipTwo test flight is scheduled for February 20, depending on the weather conditions.