‘Galactic Musk’ sounds like an Axe body spray variant but instead it’s what you get when SpaceX’s Elon Musk has booked a ticket to space on Virgin Galactic. ‘Virgin Galactic Musk’, however, describes the sort of person who thinks the Axe body spray idea is a good one.
Seriously, though, SpaceX’s Elon Musk has, according to Virgin Galactic CEO Richard Branson, booked a seat on one of his company’s SpaceShip craft to travel to the edge of space. Which is fine, after all. The Muskinator (literally nobody calls him that) can afford it.
Elon Musk knows a bargain when he sees one
Big day ahead. Great to start the morning with a friend. Feeling good, feeling excited, feeling ready.
Watch #Unity22 launch and livestream TODAY at 7:30 am PT | 10:30 am ET | 3:30 pm BST.@virgingalactic @elonmusk https://t.co/1313b4RAKI pic.twitter.com/FRQqrQEbH8
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) July 11, 2021
Musk has booked a ticket on a Virgin Galactic flight, playing the $10,000 deposit on the (eventual) $250,000 ride, but there’s no indication when this particular billionaire will get on another, different billionaire’s rocket thingy and ride to the edge of space. But these apparent friends supporting each other is an awfully good advertisement for Virgin Galactic.
See, it costs ‘just’ R3.6 million or so to fly to space using Branson’s technology. To take a (far more awesome) trip using one of Musk’s SpaceX rockets ups the price considerably. Seats on a SpaceX rocket are considered affordable for what they provide, but they still clock in at $55 million (R800 million) a pop. That’s far more out of reach than a quarter of a million dollars, in case you can’t maths too well this morning.
The date for Elon Musk’s trip hasn’t been set but then, just about nobody’s has. Virgin Galactic begins its forays into space tourism in 2022, having successfully attained its license to carry people to weightlessness in exchange for substantial sums of American money. Since none of us have R3.6 million just lying around, we’re going to have to resort to Branson’s giveaway in order to get to the edge of space.
Source: Wall Street Journal
