Richard Branson, who is set to take his first flight to the edge of outer space on Sunday, is not only known for making billions through his business but also carries the reputation of being an adventure-spirited person. To gain this reputation, the 70-year-old has often had near-death experiences. 

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Here are a few of them:

  1. In 1972, Richard Branson’s honeymoon with his wife Kristen turned into a life-risking situation when their fishing boat started sinking off the shore of Mexico. He said in a statement that they took the call of jumping overboard and taking a chance of swimming to the shore. They were reportedly the only survivors of the incident.
  2. In 1976, Branson accidentally flew off with a micro light weight aircraft after sitting in for the first time. He said that he had no idea how he took off with the plane. However, after randomly pulling out wires from the aircraft’s panel, he managed to cut off the engine and crash landed into a field, according to reports from CNN.
  3. Branson tried the daring sport of skydiving for the first time in 1986. However, his experience of falling freely towards the ground was not risk free. He pulled out the wrong cord to open his parachute, while in the air, and continued flying towards the ground. He was saved by an instructor who managed to pull out the spare cord from his backpack.
  4. In 1989, while marrying Joan, the adventure spirited entrepreneur decided to make a dramatic entry to his own wedding. He arrived at the venue dangling from the bottom of a low-flying helicopter with any safety belts. He later lost his grip and fell into the pool and sustained many severe injuries, according to reports from CNN.
  5. In 1986, Branson crash landed on his first solo hot air balloon flight. However, he had a series of such risky flights in his time.

Branson is soon to become the first billionaire to fly beyond this earth on Sunday as he is aboard the Virgin Galactic aircraft, former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will also be flying to space soon after Branson’s flight.