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Billionaire Richard Branson has brushed aside criticism of his recent trip to space, suggesting they “just aren’t fully informed” of the benefits space exploration offers Earth.
Branson reached space on a test flight for Virgin Galactic before returning to Earth and landing safely on Sunday, the latest salute in the booming space tourism industry led by top billionaires . The historic business has led some critics to question whether it was a good idea to launch expensive, gas-guzzling rockets into space, but Branson thinks the trip was certainly worth it.
CNN’s BRIAN STELTER AFFECTS THE LAUNCH OF THE ROCKET: IS IT ETHICAL TO FLY INTO SPACE DURING THE “CLIMATE CRISIS?” “
“I think they’re not fully informed about what space does for Earth,” Branson told “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” Tuesday.
“It connects the billions of people who aren’t connected – to the phone, to other things. Every spacecraft we’ve sent… put satellites up there, monitor different things in the world like rainforest degradation, monitor food distribution, even monitor things like climate change, ”Branson continued. “These things are essential for us here on Earth. So we need more spaceships to go into space, we don’t need less.”
VIRGIN GALACTIC’S RICHARD BRANSON REACHES SPACE IN A TEST FLIGHT, AS PART OF THE FURIOUS SPACE TOURISME RACE
CNN’s Brian Stelter was among Branson’s critics, as the liberal scholar on Sunday wondered aloud if it was ethical. He read a tweet, “I have to wonder if in the future billionaires doing vanity tricks in space as the climate overheats will be one of the times historians have written about,” before echo this point.
“On Friday in Death Valley, Calif., It was 130 degrees, the highest temperature on record. Saturday, same. Today, it could, again, set a record for the highest temperature on the planet “said Stelter. “Is it moral, is it ethical to launch rockets and fly into space and spend all this money and burn all this fuel in a time of climate crisis?” “
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Peter Aitken of Fox Business Network contributed to this report.
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