Richard Branson
Jeff Bezos will not wear a true spacesuit for his mission this week. But he will look the part—a desire seemingly shared by all the rich men aiming for the final frontier.
“I think we all understand the obsession with the rockets, right?” Poehler asked. “Even Freud is like, you don’t need me for this, right?”
Despite a cringeworthy production that probably made fellow space billionaires sneer, Branson's launch of space tourism was successful, and importantly, the first.
The Virgin Galactic boss is taking a huge risk by bringing forward his first flight in the race to launch space tourism.
But both Bezos and Branson run the risk of being upstaged at the end of this year by a 38-year-old billionaire who made his fortune with a payment processing system.
The creator of Virgin Atlantic has been in a 36-year feud with his main rival. Now he’s offering up his own Caribbean island as collateral. It may not be enough.
A poker-playing venture capitalist bankrolls Virgin Galactic as it burns through cash. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos could get there first.