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Billionaire Richard Branson's leap into space is a made-for-the-internet media event that shows Virgin Galactic is nearly ready to take uber-wealthy tourists on celestial journeys.
The opening of the launch window for VSS Unity comes just nine days before Amazon founder Jeff Bezos hopes to make his inaugural space visit on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket. Branson insists this isn't a space race, but that comparison seems inescapable, probably because it's fun to think that billionaires' lives are governed by petty little dramas just like ours.
Operation Billionaire Blastoff provides the clearest evidence yet of how private investors have grabbed the torch of space exploration from the grips of national pride and ambition. The emergent venture-backed space economy is now starting to affect life on Earth in beneficial ways.