With Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin scheduled to depart days apart, an era
of space tourism is set to begin.

Virgin Galactic, the spaceflight company founded by British billionaire
Richard Branson, has scheduled a flight to space on July 11. Blue Origin,
founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos — is set for its space trip on July 20.   

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The two companies will serve the nascent market for suborbital flights
lasting just a few minutes, long enough for passengers to experience
weightlessness and view the contour of the plant.

But that’s where the similarity ends.

70-year-old Branson’s Virgin Group conglomerate includes everything from entertainment
to financial services to telecoms. Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft is not a
classic rocket. It is attached to the belly of a large carrier airplane that
takes off from a runway.

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After an hour it reaches an altitude high enough to release the smaller
spacecraft, the VSS Unity, that in turn fires its engines and reaches
suborbital space — where passengers float weightlessly for a few minutes — then
glides back to earth. The spacecraft can accommodate two pilots and up to six
passengers. The cabin has 12 large windows and 16 cameras.

57-year-old Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is more of a classic rocket with a
vertical blast-off that accelerates to over Mach 3.

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Upon reaching the right altitude, a capsule separates from the booster and
then spends four minutes at an altitude exceeding 60 miles during which time
those on board experience weightlessness and can observe the curvature of
Earth. The capsule has six seats and six large windows.

Virgin Galactic plans to start commercial operations from early 2022.
Around 600 tickets have already been sold, including to Hollywood celebrities,
for prices ranging between $200,000 and $250,000.

Blue Origin is yet to announce ticket prices. But one seat on the July 20
flight was sold at an auction for $28 million.